Courtesy photo Escanaba Area Public Schools’ food service employees, affectionately known as “Lunch Bags”, take a break between preparing meals in the Escanaba High School Cafeteria recently. Each week the crew work in the kitchen and prepare meals included in the weekly food box picked up by parents and guardians of students. Escanaba and Gladstone schools will continue to provide meals for five days once a week through the summer. Carney-Nadeau and Mid Peninsula Public Schools have applied to do the same.

ESCANABA — School district staff have been providing meals to students since schools closed just after March 15. Now the 2019-2020 school year is almost over, school districts will either discontinue the program, or continue it using a similar food distribution program.

The current weekly food distribution will be replaced by Meet Up and Eat Up, a Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) run by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). In previous summers, children were able to meet at a location and eat a meal provided to them of no charge. The child would have to eat the majority of the meal at the location before taking any of it with them. This summer the requirement has changed, allowing children to take the whole meal with them.

“Children do not have to be present, parents can pick up meals and take them home,” said MDE Office of Health and Nutrition Services Director Diane Golzynski.

Through the summer months of 2020, the workings of the program will look a lot like the current food distribution of meals in boxes or bags in Escanaba and Gladstone school districts.

“We are going to be doing this through August. So the unanticipated meals will be done June 30. July 1 we will switch to summer feeding but it will be done the same way we are doing it right now,” said Escanaba Area Public Schools’ Director of Food Service Nancy LaFave.

Due to the mandatory closure of all Michigan K-12 schools, the ,MDE allowed school districts who participate in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and SFSP to serve meals during the unanticipated school closure, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Before providing food boxes to families, staff in each school district had to train and submit paperwork to the MDE, this will hold true for the summer program. Mid Peninsula School District Superintendent Eric VanDamme and Carney-Nadeau Public Schools’ Superintendent Adam Cocco are both applying with the state to organize a SFSP with a pickup location at their schools.

Schools planning to continue through June are Big Bay de Noc and Superior Central.

“We are continuing our ‘Meals for You’ program through June 30,” said Superior Central Superintendent Bill Valima.

Bark River-Harris and Manistique will discontinue food distribution the last day of the 2019-2020 school year.

“Up until June 30 districts are welcome to continue providing meal distribution in the same way as they have been since mid March,” said Golzynski. “However, on July 1, all districts wishing to continue to provide meal distribution must switch to the traditional Summer Food Service Program.”

Traditionally the SFSP program provides meals to children who are in an area receiving over 50% free or reduced priced meals. If a school district has less than 50% participation they will no longer be a meal pickup site starting July 1. The requirement is a decision by the USDA, according to Golzynski.

“The Michigan Department of Education has applied for a waiver of this requirement but we likely will not know its approval until closer to July 1,” she said.

Gladstone Area Public Schools’ District Food Service Director Nancy Monroe will continue providing meals to students through summer.

“We are starting the first Monday in July,” said Monroe. “We will have pickup one day only, for five days of meals.”

Families in Gladstone will pick up their meals from James T. Jones School, located at 400 S. 10th St., Gladstone. Escanaba Area Public Schools’ pickup location will be at the high school, located at 500 S. Lincoln Road, Escanaba.

“Meal pickup will be at the senior high,” said LaFave. “We will continue to do the bags with five breakfasts and five lunches, distributed on Tuesdays. The way we distribute food will not change.”

For more information contact the school district in your area, or go online to www.michigan.gov/mde. The website has a map of eligible SFSP locations. SFSP will end the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.