Van Buren Schools Receive Grant For Summer Meals

The Van Buren County School system will continue its summer meal program with help from an $8,800 No Kid Hungry Grant.

Director of Schools Jared Copeland said stations will be set up throughout the county to provide daily lunches for students. He said the grant would go toward meal coolers, meal storage, and other meal service supplies. He said the district has received part of this grant before and he is glad to have the money to once again provide a service that many families rely on.

“This gives an opportunity for students that are in the county during the summer to have fresh produce and fresh food, and opportunities for different meals during the summer,” Copeland said. “We set that up with families. Families can contact us if they’re in need of that service.”

Copeland said the program typically runs through June and July, but the July portion of the program will be restructured this year. He said due to lower numbers, weekly consolidated boxes will be given out through the back half of the summer.

“Students and their families can pick up, like, a box of food for the week or for so many days in a row,” Copeland said. “And so that way, we’re not stationed all over the county every single day, but they’ll have pickup points so parents can come pick up some bags or boxes of food that will do them for a good while.”

He said the locations for pickup have changed this year as well. He said there are no income restrictions and all students are eligible for the program. Parents will just need to call the school board and get filled in on where their pickup point will be this summer.

“It’s a great program,” Copeland said. “We’re so glad that we can continue it this summer for our students.”

In other business, the Van Buren County Schools will go to school May 21 and 22, a change to the school calendar.

The School Board converted May 21 and 22 from Professional Development Days to normal instructional days. Copeland said because school was out for two days last week due to weather, the district needs these two to supplement the two canceled days. He said the system would have to extend the school year or lengthen school days without those two used as regular days.