Dining With Class School Lunch Program A Hit All Summer Long

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

But those cynics have never been to some Coeur d’Alene schools during the summer, where free lunches - and breakfasts, too - are dished out by the hundreds.

“It’s great,” said David Marchant, who brought his three kids to Ramsey Elementary School for lunch Wednesday. “It saves having to fix them a lunch. It saves money for us. It gives them something to do to break up the day instead of watching TV.”

This year, about 100 kids a day fill their lunch trays at Fernan, Bryan, Borah, Winton, Ramsey and Hayden Lake elementary schools, and at Project CDA middle school, Turner said. In North Idaho, free summer meals also are available in Bonners Ferry, Kellogg and Moscow.

The state has participated in the federally funded Summer Food Service Program for more than a decade. And while the program may not be “free” to taxpayers, it has served more than 400,000 meals to Idaho kids in recent years.

Nationwide, about 2.3 million children at more than 28,000 sites were fed last summer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Meals are served at schools in low-income areas as determined by the census, or at schools where at least half the students are eligible for reduced-price meals, said Linda Turner, food service director for Coeur d’Alene schools.

Parents can have lunch with their kids for $2.25.

“The purpose is to feed kids in the summer who might otherwise not get a regular lunch,” Turner said.

There’s no paperwork to fill out; all kids have to do is show up at the cafeteria with an empty stomach.

“It’s great,” said 13-year-old Mary Valiquette as she munched on her nutritionally balanced meal of minestrone, peanut butter sandwich, banana, carrot sticks and milk.

Valiquette said she stops by for lunch just about every day. “Sometimes I don’t come because I don’t like what they make,” she said.

Even the lunch ladies like the program.

Linda Gonzales and Allison Modine rushed around the Ramsey kitchen Wednesday, spreading peanut butter, baking bread and washing trays.

They said kids often start banging on the door an hour before mealtime asking, “When is lunch?”

Despite the pre-lunch frenzy, they said it’s nothing like the school year when there are hundreds more mouths to feed.

“It’s much mellower,” Gonzales said. “You have extra time to learn. We can experiment with recipes we never work with.”

Plus, it’s a way for the cafeteria workers to pay their bills the other three months of the year.

“Otherwise we’d have no employment,” Modine said. “We kind of like the dollars.

“It’s a good program. We’re making a difference. Some of the kids probably aren’t getting a well-balanced meal otherwise.”

For Lisa Henry, the summer lunch program is a good way for her 4-year-old son, Ryan, to get prepared for school.

“He likes it because he’s not old enough to go to school yet, but this gets him involved,” Henry said.

Besides, she added, “It’s so hot out I don’t want to cook.”