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Franklin City Public Schools to pilot summer meal home deliveries and hybrid sites
Summary
The district will pilot home-delivered meal boxes and hybrid meal sites this summer to reach children who lose access to school meals, with Amazon handling logistics and Food for Good as vendor; the program has capacity for 800 boxes and 293 households had signed up by May 4:30 p.m.
Franklin City Public Schools will pilot two summer meal models this year: hybrid congregate sites that provide three-day take-home meal bags on Thursdays and a rural non-congregate home-delivery program that will ship 10–11 weekly boxes to families.
The district’s nutrition director, Mr. Evans, told the school board the program is designed “to meet families where they are” and to address the sharp drop in summer participation that leaves many children without regular access to meals. He said the division serves about 1,347 meals per day during the school year but drops to roughly 189 meals per day during summer school and 113 when summer school is not in session.
Under the home-delivery model, the first boxes are scheduled for the week of June 8, with final deliveries around the week of Aug. 17. Each box will include seven breakfasts, seven lunches and shelf-stable milk; menu details and samples are available to board members. Mr. Evans said the division has ordered 800 boxes and had 293 children signed up as of 4:30 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
The plan relies on Food for Good as the meal vendor and Amazon for delivery logistics. Mr. Evans said all planned menu items meet USDA meal-component requirements and that boxes will be shelf-stable with at least a 60-day shelf life on grain items. He described quality controls including random box inspections and delivery tracking through Amazon, and said the division will pause deliveries for students who attend summer school to avoid duplication.
Board members asked about duplication with community meal providers and compliance. Mr. Evans said the division will cross-check participant lists with partner organizations (YMCA, Boys & Girls Club) and require attestation from families that they are not receiving meals from other programs. He said the division has approached other rural sponsors that have used the USDA rural non-congregate option for delivery and learned from their experience.
The board did not vote on the program tonight; Mr. Evans said the division will continue enrollment until it reaches capacity and that further outreach is under way.
