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Summer food program helps city youth

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD For many of Springfield's children, participation in the summer food program isn't just a choice -- it is essential.

At a press event at the Kiley Middle School last week noting a $24,000 grant given by Project Bread to the city, Bel Winegar of Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts explained that at-need parents are given a set amount of food stamps. During the school year, children are given both breakfast and lunch. But in the summer, parents may not have enough food stamps to pay for those meals normally supplied at school, she said.

"The money doesn't go that far," she added.

"This [summer food program] is a critical resource for city families," Christina Jordan of Project Bread said.

In October of last year, the state's Department of Education announced that 76.8 percent of Springfield children enrolled in public school are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. Only 40 percent of those eligible children were participating in the school breakfast program.

According to statistics supplied by Project Bread, Last year an average of 3,890 children participated in the summer food program in the city. When compared to the number of children eligible for the free to reduced price school meals, there appears to be 17,590 additional children who would be taking advantage of the summer program.

A collaboration between the School Department, the Springfield Girls Club Family Center and the Episcopal Diocese of West ern Massachusetts, the summer food program has been providing meals for children at 48 sites throughout the city. Some of those locations are still open (see list below) and children 18 years of age and younger can enjoy a meal with no registration or identification required.

The program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture and administered by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Some of the sites are participating in a pilot program sponsored by Project Bread that feature fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy products in menus developed with the Harvard School of Public Health. Several sites in Springfield are also serving locally grown produce as part of Project Bread's Locally Grown Foods Initiative. The $24,000 grant was used to fund these two programs.

The following is a list of food sites that are still serving meals. For more information on the program call 1-800-645-8333.



Dream Inc.

1500 Main St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Breakfast: 8:30 -- 9:30 a.m.

Lunch: 12:30 -- 1:30 p.m.

Adams Park

Wilbraham Rd. & Norfolk St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Afternoon snack: 3- 4 p.m.

Supper: 6 -- 7 p.m.

Forest Park Boys & Girls Club

361 Sumner Ave.

Meals provided through Aug. 29

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

Emily Bill Park

Franklin St.

Meals provided through Aug. 22

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

Emerson Wright Park

Marble St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

Edgewater & Pynchon Apartments

101 Lowell St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Breakfast: 9 -- 10 a.m.

Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.

Hubbard Park

Parker St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Breakfast: 8:30 -- 9:30 a.m.

Lunch: 12:30 -- 2 p.m.

DeBerry School

670 Union St.

Meals provided through Aug. 22

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:15 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

Colonial Estates Boys & Girls Club

One Beacon Circle

Meals provided through Aug. 29

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.

Christ Church Cathedral

35 Chestnut St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 12:30 p.m.

Chestnut Park

68 Harrison Ave.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 12:30 p.m.

Afternoon snack: 3 -- 3:30 p.m.

Calhoun Park

Dwight St & Jefferson Ave.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 1:30 p.m.

Barrows Playground

Tyler/Walnut St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 1:30 p.m.

Afternoon snack: 3 -- 3:45 p.m.

Dunbar Community Center

33 Oak St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:15 a.m. -- 12:15 p.m.

Afternoon snack: 2:15 -- 3:15 p.m.

Ulloa Playground

Dwight/Morgan St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

Springfield Girls Club Family Center

100 Acorn St.

Meals provided through Aug. 29

Monday -- Friday

Supper: 7:30 -- 8:30 p.m.

Springfield Boys Club

481 Carew St.

Meals provided through Aug. 22

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.

Spring Meadow Apartments

176 Canon Cir.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.

Afternoon snack: 3 -- 3:30 p.m.

Riverview Apartments

82 Division St., Court

Meals provided through Aug. 29

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 12:15 -- 1:15 p.m.

Rebecca Johnson School

55 Catherine St.

Meals provided through Aug. 22

Monday -- Friday

Breakfast: 8 -- 9:30 a.m.

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 1 p.m.

Margaret C. Ells School

319 Cortland St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:15 a.m. -- 12:15 p.m.

Magazine Playground

St. James Ave. & Bowdoin St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

Afternoon snack: 2:30 -- 3 p.m.

Liberty School

962 Carew St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Breakfast: 8:30 -- 9:30 a.m.

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

Johnny Appleseed Park

Orange/Hancock/Mill St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

J.C. Williams Community Center

116 Florence St.

Meals provided through Aug. 15

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.

Reed Village

49 Lionel Benoit Rd.

Meals provided through Aug. 29

Monday -- Friday

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.