Dozens of children file into the gym at Sunset Elementary School in Airway Heights four days a week to get a free breakfast and/or lunch from the Cheney School District’s summer meal program. The meals can be a key lifeline for lower income students during the summer.
“It’s very important for our students,” said Sunset head chef Rita Whittaker. “A lot of them, their parents are working. For some of these, this is the one or two meals they get a day.”
Breakfast is served Monday through Thursday from 8 to 9 a.m. at Sunset Elementary, Cheney High School and Snowden Elementary School. Lunch is available from 11:30 to 12:30 at the same locations.
On a recent day, Tikka Masala and rice pilaf were on the menu at Sunset. It was new to most of the students, several of whom asked if it was spicy. “It shouldn’t be spicy,” Whittaker said. “Give the Tikka Masala just a little bite. Just try it.”
Those who tried the curry-like dish of chicken in a tomato-based sauce said they liked it and that it wasn’t too spicy. One boy asked for seconds, which was granted. Another said, “Mmmm, that is good.”
Many of the students also piled their trays high with the fresh fruits and vegetables being served before being checked off by Whittaker. While the district doesn’t keep track of any identifying information of those who come for meals, their meals have to be checked.
“When they come through they have to have three items and one has to be a fruit or a vegetable,” she said. “Without it we can’t count the meal.”
Getting the kids to eat fresh fruit isn’t usually a problem, particularly with the wide variety available. The choices that day included salad, grapes, strawberries, cantaloup, apples, rainbow colored broccoli and cauliflower. “It allows them to choose their own adventure,” Whittaker said of the variety of options. “They’re big fruit eaters.”
Summer is a time to try out new recipes to see if the kids like them and if they should be added to the menu during the school year, said Cheney School District’s executive chef and director of nutrition services LJ Klinkenberg. “We’re serving 300 lunches a day instead of 5,000,” he said. “We’re too busy to do that during the school year.”
The Tikka Masala was a new recipe. Klinkenberg said students have been requesting more international dishes and he’s excited to put them on the menu. He believes it’s important for students to be exposed to new culinary options. “I want to feed bellies, but I want them to eat good, clean food,” he said.
The district is also testing out new breakfast items, partly to keep up with ever changing federal regulations about the amount of salt and sugar that is allowed in school food. “The rules are always changing, which makes it difficult,” he said. “We’re cooking mainly scratch food. All these rules make simple cooking more difficult.”
Whittaker said she recently served a new vanilla yogurt and strawberry shortcake for breakfast, which were a big hit. She looks at plates to see what has been eaten in addition to getting feedback from students. “Kids are very honest and fair,” she said. “They will tell us if they do not like something.”
Sunset Elementary serves about 60 kids for each meal and there are generally closer to 100 at Cheney High School. Snowden Elementary, a new site, is generally slower, said Klinkenberg. It was added because the school usually used, Salnave Elementary, is under construction this year. “We had the option for another site,” he said. “With all the kids in that neighborhood, we thought we’d see how it goes.”
The school district is reimbursed for the meals they serve by the federal government, usually the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Klinkenberg said there were no issues getting approved for funding for the summer meal program this year.
The summer meals are available for all children up to age 18 and will be served through July 31. Adults who accompany their young children to a meal site cannot eat and the food must be eaten on site.
The summer meal program doesn’t extend into August because that time is spent cleaning the kitchens, receiving supplies, prepping for the school year and completing training, he said. “It was based on the timing of our kitchens,” he said.
While the program only runs through July, Klinkenberg and his staff are determined to keep children full while they can. “If any kid is hungry, we’ll find a way to get them fed,” he said.
Whittaker said children do not have to attend a school in the district in order to eat at one of the meal sites. “I just want our families to know that this resource is available,” she said.
