Summer lunch program provides meals to thousand of metro Atlanta students

Summer lunch program helps Atlanta students

Every year, the volunteers at MUST Ministries make sure thousands of children across metro Atlanta don't go hungry during their summer break.

ATLANTA - School is out and summer is here. While kids are celebrating the break from their pencils and desks, the time away from school can be a difficult time for some students, especially those who rely on school-provided meals. 

That's where MUST Ministries' Summer Lunch Program comes into play.

The backstory:

For 30 years, MUST Ministries has rolled into neighborhoods across metro Atlanta to find the children most in need of a meal during the summertime.

"The entire purpose of Summer Lunch started because some teachers came to MUST Ministries and said 'We have students who we don't think are going to be able to eat this summer. Is there any way you can begin a program?'" MUST Ministries president and CEO Ike Reighard said.

MUST Ministries president and CEO Ike Reighard says the program feeds thousands of students all summer long. (FOX 5)

That idea was the jumpstart of the program that now feeds up to 8,000 a week all summer long.

"The way we do summer lunch is over a nine-county area, and we have to find the pockets through the local schools. They can tell us what communities have the greatest need. Then we can make sure that we're going into those communities and taking care of those children," he said.

What they're saying:

It's called Summer Lunch, but the children walk away with more than a meal.

"There will be five breakfast items, there will be five lunch items, there will be 10 snacks that they receive, some salty - potato chips, Fritos - different things like that so the children have something in the afternoon," Reighard said.

A kit to feed a single child for a week costs about $11 each. That means funding the program every week can cost more than $80,000.

Volunteers work to distribute MUST Ministries' summer lunches. (FOX 5)

"It is a million-dollar program to carry out Summer Lunch and it's not an option for us. If it's going to happen, we're going to do it. And sometimes it takes the miracle of a lot of people coming together," he said.

Big picture view:

The impact isn't just feeding a child for a single day or even a week. It's about supporting the families, and the entire communities that need this help the most.

"We know that children are going to be eating, they're going to get the nutrition that they need. It's going to take some pressure off the parents. And in these days where inflation is so strong and people are being challenged in their own personal budget, it's a tremendous relief to these parents to know there's going to be food in the house to help take care of their children this summer," he said.

Reighard says it's a massive effort to make this happen, but each person they can help makes it all worth it.

'It's a noble work to be able to take care of people and you never know if your family could be one of these families one of these days will need the help," he said.

What you can do:

This program runs on donations. They need all the food to fill those kits. If you'd like to help, MUST has an Amazon Wishlist where you can send items directly to the warehouse. You can also purchase shelf-stable items and donate directly to the warehouse or donate online.