Connecting Kids to Meals serves food to thousands of children each summer

Kate Snyder, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
·2 min read

Jul. 18—For some families, a school lunch might be the only — or, at least, the most reliable — meal their children get each day.

To fill that gap during the summer months, Connecting Kids to Meals, an organization dedicated to feeding hungry and at-risk children, is serving free meals to children 18 years of age and under at multiple sites throughout Lucas County.

"It's a joy to be a service to our community in so many different ways," Wendi Huntley, Connecting Kids to Meals president, said.

A listing of all meal sites can be found on the organization's website at www.connectingkidstomeals.org.

Locations include parks, churches, summer youth programming, and other public gathering locations, according to organization leadership.

Meals are also provided at several Toledo Lucas County Public Library locations including Birmingham, Heatherdowns, Holland, Kent, Lagrange, Locke, Mott, Reynolds Corners, South, Toledo Heights, Washington, West Toledo.

Additionally, TARTA is offering free rides throughout the summer to help families travel to library branches.

Ms. Huntley said more than 60,000 children in the area qualify for free or reduced meals at school.

Families living near or below the poverty line are eligible.

This summer, organization staff expects Connecting Kids to Meals to provide about 5,000 to 6,000 meals per day.

The pandemic, she said, has pushed the number of meals served to an even higher level.

In 2019, Ms. Huntley said the organization served 252,000 meals in the summer and about 500,000 meals during the year.

Last year, during the pandemic, she said it served approximately 400,000 meals in the summer and 875,000 meals during the year.

She also noted the organization served meals in five counties in 2019. But when the pandemic hit, Connecting Kids to Meals constrained itself to serving only Lucas County.

Ms. Huntley said this year's numbers will likely look more like last year's than those from 2019.

"The need continues," she said. "We will absolutely be near where we were last year."

Without the meals that Connecting Kids to Meals provides, many children wouldn't get the nutrition they need, Ms. Huntley said.

"If kids don't eat, they're not going to learn," she said. "What you eat, how often you eat, all of that is critically important to healthy development."