Children lined up excitedly outside Heritage Middle School on a recent Wednesday afternoon as two cheery child nutrition workers heaped mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken nuggets, fruit and bread into takeaway containers, handing them out the window of a food truck emblazoned with pictures of sandwiches, fresh fruit and vegetables.
The food truck belongs to the East Central Independent School District and is used to quickly distribute meals to children during the summer at multiple locations across the 260 square miles it covers.
One girl stacked five meals, carrying them back to a waiting car with her younger siblings in tow.
Two other kids grabbed paletas from a cooler set up by a representative from health care company Aetna and hurried to the respite of an air-conditioned car.
As the temperature crept toward the triple digits, ECISD staff members erected a large canopy to shield free books and blueberry pancakes, which they were sampling and gathering feedback on for the next year.
Similar scenes are playing out at rural schools across the state this summer as part of the state’s non-congregate summer food program, which allows students to take free meals to go instead of having to eat at tables set up on site.
Heritage Middle School is one of several in ECISD to apply for the program, which is similar to feeding solutions developed by districts when schools shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past, parents like Regina Lampley, who braved the heat for just long enough for her six children to grab meals on Wednesday, would have had to sit in the sweltering heat while their kids finished the meals.
“It is very helpful to be able to take it to go,” she said.
The meals also add up in terms of cost savings during the summer months, she said.
Meredith Rokas, director of purchasing and child nutrition for the district, said it has been meaningful for families that might not otherwise have the opportunity to access the food.
“We do have a lot of elderly grandparents that watch the kids during summer, and they might not be able to get out of their car,” she said. “This allows the child to get out and get their meal, and then the grandma and grandpa don’t have to pay for that one.”
All children under 18 are eligible for meals, Rokas said. In ECISD, children have to be present to receive meals.
Rachael Israel took her four children, including one infant, to the Wednesday meal distribution.
“The lunch bill in the summertime can get really pricey with four kids,” she said. “So having this option, with these nutritional meals is really something that we appreciate.”
It was also a good opportunity for her children, who are homeschooled, to get resources like free books, she added.
She also stopped at a table set up by Aetna, which partnered with the district to inform the community about government health plans while passing out water bottles and sunglasses.
Meals are prepared off-site at East Central High School and loaded into the food truck, which has been in the district for about eight years.
Rokas said the school plans to expand its services in the coming months after winning a grant from the nonprofit No Kid Hungry Texas, which provides grants to organizations working to reduce childhood hunger.
Six other organizations in Texas are also getting grants. The nonprofit in a press release pointed to a recent study by Feeding America, which found that Texas ranks as one of the nation’s “most food-insecure states, surpassing California for the first time.”
That translates to 1 in 4 kids facing hunger, or 1,697,870 Texas children, according to the organization, a significant increase from the previous year’s data.
According to state data, about 66% of the district is considered economically disadvantaged, making them eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and other public assistance.
Once ECISD gets the funds, they plan to purchase a food sealer to keep food fresh during distribution.
The sealed food will be distributed during a new after-school snack program, where thousands of kids will be served in just a matter of minutes, according to Rokas.
Cruselva Peña, a program manager with No Kid Hungry Texas, said the nonprofit hopes to see more pandemic-era programs like non-congregate feeding return for good, adding that such options allow for different opportunities that increase the ability to feed kids.
“These can look like grab-and-go, or also like bulk meals, providing multiple days of meals, or even delivering meals to their homes,” she said. “We saw these models during the pandemic, it was very popular, very convenient for families.”
While the expanded flexibility currently only exists for rural schools, Peña hopes to see more opportunities for a greater number of districts in the coming years.
“We’re also hoping that in future years that can be expanded into more … sites and also into urban areas,” she said.
