We hope and pray for your health and safety during these trying times.
Many of you have asked about the summer lunch program and how whether our commitment for this summer is cancelled. The answer is “No”…with several notable changes.
Since the pandemic has closed the schools, arrangements have been made to supply kids with breakfasts and lunches. Over 700 meals have been served daily, through the combined efforts of several faith based organizations, food vendors, and the school districts. The meals are distributed at several locations and are picked up by parents for the kids. This effort will continue until the end of the school year term.
The Mundelein LUNCH program will commence on Monday, June 1. Many changes are being made because of the pandemic and those are outlined as follows:
- All meals will be delivered to Mundelein High School where they will be stored. We are starting with 400 meals until we are certain of the needs.
- Meals will be loaded into vans in coolers. MHS has a loading dock on the west side of the building that we will be using.
- Once the vans are loaded, they will drive to four locations where the meals will be unloaded. These sites are not parks; they are bus stops that can be easily accessible for the families to pick up the meals.
- Serving time will continue to be from 12:00 to 1:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
- Kids will not be required to consume the meals on site.
- Kids do not necessarily need to be present for lunches to be given. If a parent drives up and indicates they need four meals for four kids, they will be given. No audit will be done.
- We will still be doing our daily count sheet as in the past. The team leader will be the owner of that procedure and will arrange for those numbers to be sent to the NIFB daily.
- Once the serving time is over, the vans will pick up the coolers and any leftovers and return to MHS where they will be unloaded.
- With four sites and the expected activity and duties, we feel that at least three volunteers will be needed at each site and to assist with the loading and unloading of the coolers.
- Sign-Up Genius will remain the vehicle for volunteering. We can assist you with that if you need help. Please remember that you do not have to sign up for an entire week. You can determine those dates you are available.
The signup for volunteers can be found at this link. We thank you in advance for your willingness to help out. It’s all for the kids and while we are disappointed that our usual park locations and interaction with the kids will not be happening, at least in June, it still fulfills needs in the community. More details will be sent once we have worked out any “kinks”.
Thanks to Ken Kelting, one of our program coordinators, for writing this summary of program changes we are aware of thus far. For the latest information, please visit our Facebook page at: facebook.com/mundeleinlunch.