Page County Public Schools expands summer meal routes, serves more than 6,600 meals in first week

Miss Jeffreys, the district's nutritional services presenter, told the Page County School Board the division's summer food service program began last week and is already serving hundreds of children.

“We're over 100,000 breakfasts, over 200,000 lunches, almost 20,000 supper meals,” Miss Jeffreys said, summarizing the 2024–25 school-year totals and the department's summer work. She told the board the program operates Monday through Thursday at 50 stops around the county, with each stop visited once a week and new evening stops added in Raleighville, Luray, Stanley and Shenandoah.

The program provides a 14-meal pack—seven breakfasts and seven lunches—per registered child. Miss Jeffreys said 457 unique children visited the sites in the program's first six days and the program had served 6,664 meals in that time.

The presentation described equipment and logistics changes intended to expand service. Miss Jeffreys said the district added a second vehicle, nicknamed “Feed Up,” a retrofitted truck with a service window, refrigerator, warming unit and generator, and that the district obtained a blast freezer at Luray High School. She said the blast freezer enabled the district to receive a government reallocation of more than $13,000 that had to be spent on produce by June 30; staff used that money to purchase berries and cherries for freezing and later use in school meals.

Miss Jeffreys also reviewed the district's Community Eligibility Provision calculation for next year, reporting the program puts the district at 75.1% of students considered eligible for free or reduced-price meals—“three of every four students,” she said—and said the division will apply to operate CEP again for the coming school year.

Board members asked implementation questions. A board member asked whether the district had a county map of the 50 stops; Miss Jeffreys said a list of stops exists and she will work with county GIS staff to produce a map. She confirmed the stop schedule: Mondays in the Stanley region, Tuesdays in Shenandoah (to coordinate with library programs), Wednesdays in Luray and Thursdays in Luray and the Roudleyville section; in some locations stop length was extended to 30 minutes and evening stops run from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Miss Jeffreys described intake data collection at the first visit—child first and last name, date of birth and guardian initials—and said families returning to sites are asked only for the child's name. She noted the program will serve any child 18 or younger at a Page County stop even if the child does not live in Page County.

The board did not take formal votes on the presentation; the item was an informational update from staff.