Barren County Summer Feeding Program kicks off in June
BARREN COUNTY, Ky. – Summer is coming, and school is closing. However, school is where some students rely on for their meal.
Barren County Schools and the Barren County Education Foundation are stepping up to the plate to help fight food insecurity in Barren County.
“We’ve seen a great increase in a number of students who are able to access meals through our bulk meal pick up,” said Cheyanne Fant, director of Nutrition Services of Barren County Schools.
She says the outreach to fight hunger in children in Barren County has increased.
“We have about 3,600 students who are signed up for the summer,” she said.
That’s nearly 12 times more than when the mobile food services first began, which started with over 300 children. According to Feeding America, one in five children face hunger in Kentucky.
That’s where the Barren County Education Foundation and Barren County Schools step in.
“I think right now with the economic situation that we’re in with prices rising, and things costing so much more, it’s a real need for families. What I’ve always said is that parents don’t get a raise in the summer. You have free access to free breakfast and free lunch at school everyday,” Fant said.
She said the organization plans to feed kids year around, in the summer, through the week and on weekends. Students’ families will be able to pick up enough food for seven days, starting June 3.
According to Kentucky Youth Advocates, one in five youth ages from ages six through 17 are obese, and that research showed children living in high poverty neighborhoods with poor access to food had a 50% risk of obesity.
“You are more likely to eat high sugar foods, not fresh fruits and vegetables, and so we are able to pair all of these things to give you healthy nutritious foods while also decreasing the amount of sugar that you are also taking in,” Fant said.
This project is not just beneficial to the children but to those supporting them at home.
Fant said, “This helps relieve parents in a big way.”
