Students are heading into summer vacation around Michigan over the next few weeks. That means no more school lunches for children living in poverty.
Now the state is reminding parents that finding summer lunch programs is only a text away.
The “Meet Up and Eat Up” initiative operates around Michigan, giving students a place to go for lunch during the summer months when schools are closed.
State officials are reminding parents that finding food locations is as easy as texting the word ‘food’ to 877877
Kyle Guerrant is Deputy Superintendent of Schools for the Michigan Department of Education.
“Our hope with the texting app is just to again make it easier have multiple pathways for students and families to find out where they can access food sites.”
Guerrant said there are hundreds of food sites throughout the state.
“There are a number of school sites that are either running summer school or some type of education or you know recreational programs during the summer, provide either lunch or breakfast or some combination thereof. Places like the YMCA’s, other nonprofit community based organizations that are running summer programming.”
Guerrant said parents can also call 211 for information or they can use an interactive map to find food locations in their community. A link to the map can be found here.