TOLEDO, Ohio — Editor's note: the above story originally aired on May 25.
Once again, local community organization, Connecting Kids with Meals will have sites all over Toledo and northwest Ohio this summer, making sure kids who are living in poverty are able to get a hot meal.
According to the organization, in Lucas County, childhood hunger affects 1 in 4 kids, making the summer meal program a vital resource for families.
Volunteers with the organization will be found at libraries, pools, community centers, churches, summer camps, and other locations starting on May 31 at certain sites and later in the summer at most others.
This year, there won't be grab-and-go meals like there were during the pandemic. Kids will be required to eat their meals at the distribution spot.
There are over 125 locations on the list this year.
Most of the locations are in Toledo, but there are also locations in Bowling Green, Rossford, Sylvania, North Baltimore, Holland.
A full list, with dates, times and locations, can be found here.
Connecting Kids with Meals provides free, healthy, minimally processed meals for kids. In 2021 the program provided more than 7500 meals for kids in the area, every day, for a total of 250,000 meals. They are hoping to surpass that number this year.
The organization prepares and packages meals at their kitchen in downtown Toledo, which they operate with the Cherry Street Mission.
If you’d like to volunteer or make a donation to the program click here.
MORE FROM WTOL 11:
Get a fresh start to your morning and wrap up your day with the latest news and your WTOL11 Weather forecast delivered right to your inbox! WTOL's Your Morning Blast and Your Evening Blast deliver stories from northwest Ohio, southeast Michigan and beyond to keep you informed. Click here to get on the list!