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Cottonwood Heights Journal

Granite’s Seamless Summer meals feed kids through fall

Jun 19, 2017 12:19PM ● By Aspen Perry

Granite District helps food-insecure families during summer break. (Granite School District).

By Aspen Perry   |  [email protected]
 
 
Summer break does not signify a break in the fight against hunger.  With that in mind, Granite School District continues to provide meals for food- insecure students and families during the summer break through their “Seamless Summer Free Meal Program.”
 
From June 5 until August 4, Granite School District will serve roughly 200,000 people at 49 locations. Lunch is free to anyone under the age of 18 years, and $3.50 for adults. Three of these locations serve breakfast, as well.
 
Rich Prall, director food services, is aware that student needs are prevalent throughout the year, not just when school is in session.
 
“We understand the needs of our community. Hunger doesn’t go away when school is out,” Prall said.
 
Prall explained the program is fully funded through federal reimbursement with no cost to the district.
 
Granite District’s Seamless Summer program began five years ago and aims to meet standards of proper nutrition with each meal. Each lunch includes a main course, fruit, vegetable, snack, and choice of juice or milk.
 
Of the 49 locations, West Valley elementary schools and parks host 25 sites with Farnsworth Elementary and Redwood Multipurpose Center also serving breakfast.
 
Salt Lake City hosts eight sites including: Granite Park Jr. High, Harmony Park, James E. Moss Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Robert R. Fitts Park, Utah International Charter, Sunnyvale Park, and Woodrow Wilson Elementary.

In Kearns, seven sites host lunch, with Qquirrh Hills Elementary also offering breakfast through to July 21. Six other sites are in Taylorsville and three sites are in Magna.
 
Locations and service times can be found by visiting the Granite District Food Services website.
 
In addition to Granite Food Services “keeping students in mind at all times,” the Summer Seamless program also offers part-time work which is done by schools’ food service workers as an opportunity to continue to work in their trained field during summer break.
 
 
The Seamless Summer program is summed up in the ‘BatesCentral Kitchen Tour’ YouTube video, as Sheldon Moore, operations manager of Granite District food services, states, “It’s an outstanding program for our community, and it helps our kids when school is out.”