Holton summer meals program fed more students this year

Last year, Holton USD 336’s summer meals program served about 400 young people per day, according to district food service director Wilma Shupe.

This past June, as Shupe reported, the daily average of children served by Holton’s summer meal program went up by more than 100 to more than 500 meals, serving students from all three of the county’s school districts. The daily average dropped by more than 50 in July, but it was “still much higher than the previous year,” Shupe added.

Holton’s summer meals program — operating under the auspices of the Summer Food Service Program, a federally-funded, state-administered program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that offers meals to children at no charge — averaged 511 meals per day in June and 446 in July, which Shupe called “a much higher number of participants than previous years.”

Some of that increase could be attributed to the Royal Valley district not participating in the Summer Food Service Program this year, it was noted. Royal Valley superintendent Aaric Davis said in May that the district’s participation in the program had been “low in participation and costly” in the past, leading to the district not participating this summer.

According to Shupe, the Holton district served a total of 14,824 lunches and 14,824 breakfasts to children in June. In comparison, Holton’s program served a total of 11,028 lunches and 11,028 breakfasts in June of 2024, or an average of 394 of each per day, she said.

This past July, a total of 13,848 lunches and 13,848 breakfasts were served, or an average of 446 each per day, she added.

Holton’s summer meal program operated from three different “grab-and-go” meal distribution sites — its “home base” at Holton Elementary School, Holton’s Countryside Park and the Denison Community Center — between Monday, June 2 and Thursday, July 31, it was reported.

The district had provided summer meals in the HES cafeteria before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Shupe said, adding that the district went to the “grab-and-go” option because of the pandemic and stayed with it even as the pandemic eased.

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