Sites around Clark County offer kids free meals

There are more than 30 locations in Clark County where hungry kids can have breakfast, lunch or a snack this summer.

All children younger than 18 are eligible to participate in the programs funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which offer a healthy meal to children to fill the gap between school years. Students do not need to receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year to qualify for a free meal.

“Just as learning does not end when school lets out, neither does a child’s need for good nutrition,” said Becci Read-Ryan, Share’s hunger response assistant director, in a news release. Share is the largest provider of summer meal sites throughout Clark County, located in low-income areas.

About 38 percent of Clark County’s 80,000 students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a barometer for poverty in a community, according to the most recent available Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction data. In Clark County’s largest school districts, Evergreen and Vancouver public schools, more than 45 percent of students receive that benefit.

Source: https://www.columbian.com