The Youth Summer Meals Program will be offered again in Jamestown and in Enderlin starting June 1, Great Plains Food Bank announced Monday.
The Youth Summer Meals Program helps to provide free meals for children younger than age 18 during the summer months when school lunch and breakfast programs aren’t available. In addition to Jamestown and Enderlin, programs return to West Fargo, Fargo and Bismarck and new locations will be offered in Grenora, Trenton, Casselton, Mapleton and Chaffee, Great Plains Food Bank said in a news release.
“This is the largest number of Youth Summer Meals Program sites we have had yet and we couldn’t be more excited about that,” said Nancy Carriveau, Great Plains Food Bank Program director. “Children make up 36 percent of those we serve each year, which is more than 50,000 kids."
In Jamestown, there were 8,535 meals provided in 2020 and a total of 9,252 meals since 2019, said Jared Slinde, communications manager for Great Plains Food Bank. He said the program "really took off" in 2020 in Jamestown.
Doug Hogan, director, Jamestown Parks and Recreation Department, said children in the department's summer parks program receive meals through the Summer Meals Program. The Parks and Rec summer parks program is available for children ages 6-12 from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday starting in June.
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“The meals are served at the shacks in those parks (where the program is held),” he said.
Hogan said parents interested in the parks program need to fill out a participation waiver, available on the Jamestown Parks and Recreation Department's website at https://jamestownparksandrec.com/ .
"The (meals) program is a great resource for our community," said Amy Walters, facility manager of Two Rivers Activity Center, another site for the meals. "It allows children to continue to receive a quality lunch when school is off for the summer."
Walters noted that with Jamestown Parks and Recreation, NDSU Extension Service-Stutsman County and The Arts Center partnering to provide the program, "free healthy meals should be accessible to all children."
In Jamestown, meals will be provided as follows:
Two Rivers Activity Center: 11:30 a.m.-noon Monday through Saturday, June 1-Aug. 18
Nickeus, Leapalt and Meidinger parks: 11:30 a.m.-noon, Monday through Friday, June 7-Aug. 6 (no meal on July 5)
Hansen Arts Park: 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, June 1-Aug. 14
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Stutsman County Extension Office: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday (no meal July 5), June 1-Aug. 27
In Enderlin, meals will be offered from noon-1 p.m. at First Lutheran Church on Tuesday and Thursday from June 1-Aug. 24.
