Osseo School District Summer Food Program in High Demand
Nutrition is important, even when school is out of session. No one knows that better than summer school nutrition managers with Osseo Area Schools.
At Park Center High School, food service staff work each day to prep balanced meals for kids across the district.
“Kids and food are synonymous. Like peanut butter and jelly; pancakes and syrup. You know, cereal and milk. That type of thing,” said Angelina Smith, one of the summer school nutrition managers for District 279. “It’s for the kids, always.”
During the school year, Smith serves breakfast and lunch to Park Center High School students. In the summer, she helps oversee the summer meals operation, which puts together meals and snacks for anyone 18 and under. Some are distributed to other schools, city parks and community meeting spaces.
Smith and Rachel Hibbler drop off an order of meals and snacks for kids at Norwood Park in Brooklyn Park.
Some students also pick up meals right at Park Center. Smith lives near the school, and says she is always happy to see those students stop by. She tells them to invite their friends next time.
“We all come from different walks of life, but we all have one common theme– and it’s that we care about each other,” Smith said. “I’m always excited to see kids, but I really love to see my kids. Because it means they’re coming in, they know about the program.”
A Growing Need
The meal distribution process starts at 6:30 a.m. each day. The staff come in and prepare breakfasts, snacks and lunches to be bussed to all the different locations throughout the district.
Smith checks on Thursday’s lunch– hot dogs– cooking in the oven at Park Center.
Rachel Hibbler, Smith’s fellow summer nutrition manager, said the need has grown throughout the district.
“It varies every week, but we are doing probably about double of what we did last summer,” Hibbler said.
Hibbler said part of that could be thanks to more programs opening up throughout the community. Still, the volume of kids served makes the work they do, including the loading and delivering process, all the more impactful.
“Feeding people is my love language. Acts of service are my love language,” Hibbler said. “Every day, when I come to work, I’m doing what I love.”
The program is federally funded through the Summer Food Service Program.
Some Osseo Area Schools’ summer meal programs run until mid-August. Food is available for anyone aged 18 and under, regardless if they’re a district student.
You can find a list of locations and the days the service operates on the District 279 website.
