Page 28 - AASBO EDGE Spring 2025

CHILD NUTRITION
BY KATHY GLINDMEIER AND DEBBIE MCCARRON
Here's How Schools Can Feed Kids
During Those Hot Arizona Summers
Kathy Glindmeier Debbie McCarron
Feeding Arizona Students in the summer has always
been a challenge. Temperatures exceeding 100
degrees and limited transportation options have
made it difficult for students to get to summer
feeding sites.
During the pandemic, many schools in rural areas
served non-congregate meals to families and the
summer meal participation increased significantly.
The USDA has recognized the success of the “meals
to go” model and issued flexibilities for rural areas
for the past two years through an interim final
rule. Last summer, I had the opportunity to visit
Humboldt and Globe school districts to observe their
summer meal distribution sites. Both districts were
also recipients of grants from No Kid Hungry and
used the funds to implement their non-congregate
summer meal program.
Jody Buckle is the child nutrition director in
Humboldt USD and is known for his creative
approach to feeding kids. The district has 10 schools
and 55 food service employees. Jody developed a
system to efficiently provide families with five days
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of meals Monday through Thursday. The funding
from the breakfast and lunch meals enabled him to
pay staff and bus drivers to deliver meals to remote
areas of the district. When I visited on July 10, he
was serving 1,300 meals with 800 being picked
up by parents and the remaining 500 delivered by
bus weekly. Humboldt nutritionist, Pam Liuzzo,
developed recipes to be handed out with the meals.
When asked about the most rewarding part of serving
summer “meals to go”, Jody stated, “We are serving
six times the number of meals we did in our best
summer of congregate feeding only.”
Craig Hagen is the child nutrition director at Globe
USD and served an average of 900 to1,000 meal
bags last summer on his mobile route. He used
government surplus foods and produce from the
Department of Defense to keep food costs down.
Craig states: “The greatest reward was seeing the
students come running to the delivery bus to get the
food bags.” Elementary and middle school students
at Globe receive free breakfast and lunch during
the school year as part of the community eligibility
program. Globe plans to continue the summer
“meals to go” program in 2025 if the flexibilities
provision continues.
The final rule for these flexibilities is expected to
be released in 2025. It’s important to remember
districts/schools in rural areas have the option for
both onsite summer meals, as well as “meals to go”
under the provisional flexibilities, including through
models like home delivery and multiple meal pick
up. The USDA criteria is that they cannot be served
at the same location at the same time. In July 2024,
reimbursement rates were $2.84 for breakfast and
$4.54 for lunch.
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THE EDGE SPRING 2025