FREMONT, Ohio — The Fremont City Schools district is doing what it can to help hungry families in need.
"We really are hopeful that these (summer meal programs) can work together in a way that is going to create a comprehensive security blanket for kids and families during the summer," said Ashley Roudebush, state campaigns manager for No Kid Hungry, a national nonprofit organization that assists families with meals to help end childhood hunger.
As part of a wider-scale handout, the nonprofit gave the school district a $9,600 grant to assist with the district's summer meals "grab and go" program.
The school district will hand out free bags of meals outside of the Fremont Ross High School from 11: a.m. to 1 p.m. every Monday from June 10 to Aug. 12.
"Each family can get up to five bagged meals, so they have five breakfasts and five lunches, and then they get two-and-a-half gallons of milk," said Jessica Michel, child nutrition supervisor for Fremont City Schools.
District officials told WTOL 11 they plan to prepare 600 bags of meals a week to hand out.
All of the meals are free for the community to have, with each family getting a maximum of five bags a week.
You don't need to be a student or family within the Fremont City School District to get an order, either; all are welcome.
"Small children, ages 1-18, it wouldn't even have to be kids who are in school yet at all," said Superintendent Jon Detwiler.
Sixty-one percent of rural families say they don't have enough money for meals during the summer, according to No Kid Hungry.
Fremont school officials said 70% of the district faces economic struggles.
" I think it's hard to equate that," said Denice Hirt, assistant superintendent. "It is such a large number, and we know that we'll have some repeat families, but we may have families come through just once or at the start of each month. It's just when they need it."
So, the Little Giants are coming together to help families in need one bag of food at a time.
"We have a lot of families that depend on the school meals that they are receiving, that were receiving up until last week, so we need to keep these families fed," Michel said.