Summer meal programs ending

By TOM LAVENTURE

[email protected]

Hurley — This is the final week of a summer breakfast and lunch program offered through Hurley K-12 School.

“This is our last week,” said Kevin Genisot, Hurley school district administrator. “We were averaging almost 3,000 meals a week all through summer. A lot of families really relied on that and they really enjoyed it.”

The Summer Foods School Program stemmed from the free or reduced breakfast and lunch program that is made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency announced it would support a program to provide meals for any family who wanted them after the school closed due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 13 and continued providing prepackaged foods through the school all summer.

The program delivered 43,224 meals from the time of the school shutdown in March through Aug. 16, according to Breanne Lombardo, school district finance officer, who supervised the program with Dawn Rye, food service director. The two worked in conjunction with a school nutrition program consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

The total meals include both breakfast and lunch in equal numbers of 21,612. The program started with a total of 3,446 meals in March; 8,260 in April; 11,260 in May; 9,082 in June; 8,062 in July, and 3,114 so far in August.

“We are now starting with the other federal program where we’re giving the box based on whatever is delivered to the school,” Genisot said.

The federal program, Farmers to Families free dairy box distribution, is a USDA-sponsored program that purchases and distributes agricultural products to those in need. The first Hurley School distribution event was held Aug. 3 and a second distribution on Aug. 17.

The Hurley program started after Roger Kolehmainen, of Ironwood, contacted the school to set up the event, according to Lombardo in her report to the school board on Monday. Around 275 boxes of dairy products were distributed. Each box is 25 pounds.

If the school were to return to a total virtual setting and the USDA offers support for a program similar to the summer program then the school would follow through accordingly, Genisot said. With the in-class schedule starting on Sept. 1, the school’s USDA free breakfast and free lunch program will continue to operate with accommodations made for eligible families of students attending virtually to pick up meals at the school.