PORT CLINTON, Ohio — With the school year coming to a close, summer lunch programs are starting to ramp up.
The Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center has fed more than 220,000 children take-home meal bags over the five years of its summer lunch program.
Ashley Walterbusch, advocacy center program director, said last year the initiative served an average of 1,000 meals a week. Now, it's able to expand.
"This year we've added two new locations (and) we're excited to be hitting the Elmore and Genoa communities. That was a pocket we weren't able to hit last year," Walterbusch said.
The program is funded through the Ohio Department of Education, and organizers say there is no limit to how many students they can serve.
"This is an awesome program," said Cathy Bergman, superintendent of the Benton-Carroll-Salem Local School District "Considering the inflation of food prices, this helps out families immensely."
The program begins distributing food at specified locations on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on June 4.
"We are serving seven days of meals in each grab-and-go bag, so you'll have seven breakfasts, seven lunches and two half gallons of milk for every child who registers. The only thing that we ask is we need a first and last name for every child," Walterbusch said.
Advocacy center leaders said the program's initial focus was serving children within Ottawa County. That reach has since expanded to serve communities close to the county; as long the children are registered, they will receive food.
"I think they should try it, especially if they're in need of food," Bergman said. "I think this is something that would (not only) benefit their household expenses but benefit the children as well."
You can register to pick up a meal bag on a week-to-week basis so there's no limit to when you can sign up or stop using the program.
The advocacy center is always looking for more volunteers to make sure the program runs smoothly.