PENDER COUNTY — Pender County Schools summer meals initiative distributed over a hundred thousand meals to students and their families.
Each week families could pick up seven days worth of breakfast and lunches. By the end of the summer Pender County Schools had given out 184,342 meals.
The initiative began June 3 and ended Aug. 12. Families could collect food each Wednesday between 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. as a part of No Kid Hungry North Carolina, which began in 2011.
Six locations provided meal pick ups — Atkinson Town Hall, C.F. Pope Elementary, Malpass Corner Elementary, Maple Hill Presbyterian Church, Rocky Point Elementary and South Topsail Elementary.
Also supporting the initiative was PET Dairy. The company provided the schools with two refrigerated trucks from Dean Holmes, with PET Dairy, and its Goldsboro branch. Stationed outside Maple Hill and Atkinson Town Hall, the trucks helped maintain food quality and provided extra refrigerated storage.
“Providing a full week of breakfast and lunch gave families a dependable source of meals throughout the summer,” Pender County Schools Child Nutrition Contract Manager Kelly Ramos said. “We are grateful to the families who participated, to everyone who supported the distributions and to PET Dairy for helping us keep meals fresh and accessible across the county.”
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