MACON, Ga. — Students may be out of school, but the Bibb County School District still wants to make sure kids eat well over the summer. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School is one of many schools offering free lunches for students this summer.
Some Bibb County students are getting some extra time in the classroom this summer.
"'What is the best part of your day when you are in school?' Reading," Artavious Miller said.
But in order to read, students like Miller need a healthy meal, and it's all thanks to funding from the United States Department of Agriculture.
"We run this summer meal program in Bibb County each summer," Executive Director of School Nutrition Timikel Sharpe said.
Sharpe says last year, 10,000 kids took advantage of the free meals, but that's fewer than half the students in the district. So this year the district wants to boost those numbers with new meal items.
"We are hoping that by introducing some of the hot meals, at some of the breakfast sights, we will get people to come and participate in the program," Sharpe said.
For breakfast on certain days kids can enjoy grits, eggs, sausage. And then lunch rolls around.
"So today we are doing hamburgers and sweet potato fries. They of course also have to have a fruit and vegetable and milk and they have juice today," Sharpe said.
Hot lunches and breakfasts will only be served on certain days. On the other days they get a simple breakfast and a sack lunch.
"But we are concerned with our students, and we want to make sure they have healthy meals they can eat," Sharpe said.
Even though the summer is just starting kids like Miller have one less thing to worry about.
"Feeling fine without getting sick and healthy by eating fruits and stuff," Miller said.
Sharpe added Bibb County Schools teams up with churches and organizations in the community to give out these meals. Most meal sites run until the end of this month, although a few run to the middle of July.