If someone tells you there's no such thing as a free lunch, send them back to school. Children trickled into North Pines Middle School in Spokane Valley on Wednesday for the third day of a program that offers anyone under age 18 a free lunch – and a free breakfast, too. This summer, the Spokane Valley's three school districts are hoping to patch what can become a nutritional black hole. Parents sometimes find it difficult to afford food when their kids are home all day, but dietary needs don't go on vacation when young minds do. Needs might even increase, since kids are outside burning calories, one mother said. "During the summertime, money is tight, and they eat a lot," Angela Townsend, 33, said, nodding toward her three children sitting at a long, Formica-topped cafeteria table. "They like to swim." Across the cafeteria, about two dozen other kids – some with their mothers, some with friends – ate pizza, salad and milk. Brittanie James, 13, said she'd probably be eating at the fast food restaurants across the street from her house if she didn't come to North Pines. The menu at North Pines changes each weekday, and it's different at Trent and Orchard Center elementaries, the two other schools where the Valley program is offered. Free meals are being served in other local school districts, including in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene. Michele Marshall is planning her family's summer around the meals. She mapped out a schedule where on one day she might bring her four children to Orchard Center for breakfast and Trent for lunch, and the next they might eat both meals at North Pines. "This is our break during the day," Marshall said. "It's a reward for them." It's also rewarding for Gary Pannell, Central Valley's food service supervisor, to see so many kids eating for free. The staff served 305 meals Tuesday, an amount Pannell expects will be a typical day. "We think it's a really good program to help kids over the summer," he said. Pannell and kindergarten-through-fifth-grade administrator Mary Jo Buckingham landed a federal grant to bring the free meals to Central Valley School District. The government reimburses the district for each meal served, and Pannell estimates that amount will total about $14,000 by the time the program ends July 22. Buckingham said the meals ease the stress on parents, who worry about their children's nutrition. "This is a way to give them confidence that they're doing something good for their children," she said. Already, organizers have noticed mothers networking at the meals. "Moms are talking to each other, discovering they live closer than they thought," Buckingham said. The lunches are a social event for the kids, too. "When we stay at home, we don't get to do much fun stuff," said Nicole Moss, 13.
