Monday saw the brightly purple-colored food truck — covered in big lettering in the shades of the Middletown Middies school colors — in front of the district’s high school with dozens of school children snacking with their parents or guardians, sitting on blankets.
It’s a play picnic sort of atmosphere, said Middletown Schools Executive Chief Jerry Henderson, he is seeing more often at the truck’s stops at various schools.
“It’s a play date for a lot of their families when they come out with their kids,” said Henderson.
“They sit in the grass and the play and they eat and they have fun and fellowship. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Henderson, who also helps prep and serve the meals, said the inflationary costs of food for families with young children has contributed to more customers of the free, nutritional meals served Monday-Friday.
In the last decade, other Butler and southern Warren County school districts — such as Lakota, Hamilton, Fairfield and Kings — have created similar mobile food truck, free student meal programs or offered such meals from their school buildings or through local food pantries during summer break.
In Ohio, food pantry program officials have estimated one in five children experience food insecurity.
In Middletown, customers are up 60% compared to the truck’s first summer season in 2019, Henderson said.
For years all Middletown Schools’ communities have qualified under federal guidelines for residents with school children to receive free and reduced cost school meals when classes are in session. But in 2019 the district purchased and customized a food truck to provide an element of mobility to its summer meal program.
Samantha Hisey’s young child munches a lunch in front of Middletown High School and she said,“I love this idea.”
“It’s not really affordable for everybody to feed their kids during the summertime. And it’s easier for them (families) to have to prepare a meal or two a day,” said Hisey.
Nicole Vonscheerschmidt echoed the appreciation of the program.
“This is our third or fourth year coming to the meal machine every summer and it’s a treat.”
“The boys get really bored with sandwiches at home every day. Inflation is going up a lot and this definitely saves on costs and really helps out with a family of five,” said Vonscheerschmidt.
For details on the food truck’s locations Monday through Friday during summer break, and a listing of each day’s meal offering, go to Middletown Schools’ website.
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