The food service program operated by the second-largest public school system in Massachusetts does not take the summer off. More than 200,000 free meals will be served in Springfield this summer to school-age children.
The Springfield Public Schools’ summer food service program operates at more than two dozen locations including schools, parks, and public housing complexes. Both breakfast and lunch is served at most locations.
Jennifer Diaz, a mother of four, said it’s good the schools can feed children all year round.
"I think it is great for people who can't afford it because there are a lot of kids out here that don't have food and their parents skip meals," she said.
Because of Springfield’s high poverty rate, all of the city’s roughly 30,000 school-age children are eligible for free meals.
During the summer the meals consist of cereal, milk, and juice for breakfast. Lunch is a sandwich three days a week and a hot meal the other two.
The summer meals program runs through August 25.
Food service in the Springfield schools has grown substantially as a result of streamlined federal eligibility requirements that allow all students to qualify for free meals and the introduction three years ago of one of the country’s first breakfast-in-the-classroom programs.
More than 80 percent of Springfield’s public school students start their day with breakfast in school, according to Tim Gray, the district’s food service administrator.
"It just kick starts the day for these kids," said Gray. " There are a lot fewer trips to the nurses' office at around 10 o'clock because kids are hungry, they have a better attention span."
The number of meals served in school increased last year by 800,000.
This rapid expansion of the school’s year-round meals service was the impetus for the school system to build its own food services center, a first for a public school district in Massachusetts.
Work started late last year on a two-year project to transform a 62,000-square foot warehouse into a state-of-the-art culinary center complete with a commercial kitchen, bakery, and food storage.
Gray said the $21 million project will consolidate the school’s food service operations at one site saving taxpayers money and improving nutrition with more scratch cooking and an expanded farm-to-table initiative.
" This will outfit us for the next 20 years, " said Gray.
The new food services center will result in 40 new jobs. It will also be a vocational training center for the food services industry, where large job growth is forecast with the opening of the MGM Springfield casino next year.
