JACKSONVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and Jacksonville North Pulaski School District have teamed up for a summer nutrition program looking to keep students fed while out of school.
The school and charity held their kickoff event Thursday, hosting Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and education leaders.
Mother of five Melissa Curtis also came to the event to pick up her kids’ food and said the program is giving her pockets a huge break.
“With inflation and everything, groceries have been kind of like a struggle,” she explained.
Curtis said she often has concerns about where the next meal for her children and others will come from, especially in the summer, but not anymore.
“They’re providing the breakfast and the lunch, and that’s beneficial,” she said, adding that she spends between $75 to 125 per week on food but now only has to focus on dinners.
The program was able to service 15 families Thursday, but JNPSD child nutrition director Clint Walker said they’re aiming to serve 100 kids per day.
“Our database is 4,200 children in our district right now. We’re feeding over a thousand meals a day, so almost 25% of our database,” he said.
Walker noted that there are seven sites in total offering the service across the district to ensure people in all areas could access the service.
“Because it’s so hard for parents when they work for these kids to eat, we don’t want them eating cereal all day,” Walker said.
For details on more summer meal programs for students in Pulaski County, including times for meal pickups, head to PulaskiCounty.net.