For Columbus parents looking to get summer meals for students, it may be harder now

Free meals provided for students by the Muscogee County School District will have to be eaten on-site this summer.

In previous years, Muscogee schools have offered a pickup option for parents or guardians of students. This allowed them to take home seven days worth of free meals every Monday.

This year, Muscogee County is only offering in-person meals for breakfast and lunch. A spokesperson for the district said it is reverting to pre-pandemic policy, which required all meals to be eaten on-site.

Students will have the option of eating at one of 10 elementary schools across the district between May 28 and July 3. The district will add meal service at seven middle schools between June 3 and June 27.

Not everyone is happy about the updated process.

La’Teya Sparks has three children in elementary school and a full-time job. She said she can’t take her kids to a school twice every day.

“It was easy to pick up meals and have them for the kids during the day,” she said.

Sparks said the free meals were a significant financial help to her family, but this summer she won’t be able to take advantage of the opportunity.

“My mom watches them during the summer for me, but she doesn’t have a car,” she said. “And it’s a 40 minute walk to the closest school with food, so we’re going to have to figure something else out.”

A district spokesperson said Muscogee County schools served more than 76,000 lunches and 42,000 breakfasts for students last summer. Estimates for this year are not available yet.

Harris County gives options

In Harris County, students will be able to either eat breakfast and lunch on campuses or pick up a week’s worth of meals from Park Elementary.

Harris County school nutrition director Brad Johnson said the meal pickup depends on the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced school lunch in an area.

“The percentage of free and reduced lunch students isn’t high enough in certain areas to allow meals to be picked up at every school,” he said.

Park Elementary, the only campus offering weekly meal pickups, is one of two Title I schools in the county.

Harris has been designated a rural county by the Georgia legislature, which is one of the reasons meal pickups have been popular.

“People aren’t driving out here for breakfast and lunch every day,” Johnson said.

Johnson estimated around 200 people took advantage of the summer meal service last year. This year, he hopes the pickup option will increase that number.

“We may be up in the 10,000 area this summer because of all the pickups,” he said, referring to the number of meals the district may provide.

A district spokesperson said Muscogee County schools served over 76,000 lunches and 42,000 breakfasts for students last summer. Estimates for this year are not available yet.

Both the Harris and Muscogee county summer meal services are funded by the USDA.

This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 9:19 AM.