Summer Meals Program Begins June 5

The Cherokee County School District will begin its free summer meal service for children on June 5!

CCSD School Nutrition will take its mobile Cruisin’ Cafés cafeterias housed on school buses to stops throughout the county to serve breakfast and lunch on weekdays in June and July (no service July 3-7) to all children age 18 and younger.  The schedule is posted above in English and below in Spanish.

The summer meals program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which no longer is permitting schools to give families a week’s worth of meals for their children in advance.  In order for CCSD to receive the federal funding that pays for the free summer meals for children, the meals must be distributed daily in a model where children eat the meal in person at the delivery site.

“We understand that this change by the USDA may make it more difficult for some children to receive meals, but we are grateful to receive federal funding for the Cruisin’ Café free meal distribution,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower said.  “We’re also grateful for our many community partners that step up their service over the summer to ensure children do not go hungry.”  

The largest such program is coordinated by MUST Ministries, a CCSD Partner.  MUST will deliver bags of a week’s worth of shelf-stable meal supplies to children on routes throughout the county.  These “Kids’ Kits” bags includes supplies for five breakfasts and five lunches, such as cereal bars and canned pasta, as well as snacks and juice drinks.  For information on how to receive meals, donate or volunteer, please call MUST at (770) 479-5397 or email summerlunch@mustministries.org.  More information is at https://www.mustministries.org/summer-lunch.  

Other food box/pantry programs that families in need can contact include, but are not limited to: First Baptist Church of Woodstock Food Ministry (https://fbcw.org/food-ministry/), Forever Fed (https://foreverfed.org/ ), Never Alone (https://www.neveralone.org/) and Timothy’s Cupboard (https://timothylutheran.360unite.com/timothys-cupboard-home).
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