A summer meals program for kids has new locations in Snohomish County.
Food Lifeline, a Shoreline-based nonprofit that works to get food — that would otherwise be wasted — to local food banks, has expanded its Kids Cafe summer meals program to Everett.
Sultan and Gold Bar also have the program, which aims to bring food to kids who might not have access to meals during the summer.
The Kids Cafe sites are located in communities in which more than half of the students qualify for free and reduced-price meals during the school year, said Kelly Gehringer, a spokeswoman for Food Lifeline. Almost 485,000 kids across Washington count on free and reduced-price meals during the school year, but only 46,000 are getting that food in the summer, she said.
The Kids Cafe meals are tailored to meet certain nutritional guidelines and still appeal to picky eaters.
“I like the milk but I don’t like beans,” said Juneen Aleck, 9.
She and her brother, Kenneth Aleck, 10, eat at the Sultan Boys &Girls Club with up to about 30 other kids.
“Sometimes, I like the food,” Kenneth said.
He enjoys many of the healthy foods in the lunch: yogurt, milk, string cheese and apples. But he isn’t so fond of carrot sticks.
Kaylee Howdeshell, 10, said she didn’t have any complaints.
“They make the best banana bread,” she said. “And the sandwiches, they’re OK.”
At the Kids Cafe sites, children and teens ages 1 to 18 can show up for free lunches from 11:30 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday.
The meals are available in Everett at the Boys &Girls Trailside Club, 1300 100th Place SE, until Sept. 1 and at the Cascade Club, 7600 Cascade Drive, until Sept. 4.
The lunches also are available until Sept. 4. at Gold Bar Elementary School, 419 Lewis Ave., and at the Sultan Boys &Girls Club, 605 First St. The Sultan location is among 18 Kids Cafe sites in Western Washington. The program aims to provide almost 50,000 meals this summer.
Mike Bradshaw-Heiberg is a volunteer for Sultan’s Kids Cafe. He rolls a cooler full of brown-bag lunches and half-pint cartons of milk from the food bank to the Boys &Girls Club. He then takes the leftover lunches to pass out in Sultan’s Skyline View neighborhood.
“I end up feeding a lot of kids out that way,” he said. “You start learning which families need more help.”
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.
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