Warren County students will no longer have to leave school hungry as the school system is set to begin a new after-school meal program this Monday.
The program is called the SUPPER Program through the East Tennessee Human Resource Agency (ETHRA). Warren County Schools Communications Coordinator Sarah Cantrell said students can get a free meal at the end of the school day at any Warren County school that has a cafeteria. Cantrell said, unfortunately, the meals provided at school are the only meals some students get the whole day.
“We know that it will be filling a need for maybe a number of students that is higher than we want to believe, but it’s a reality,” Cantrell said. “And so anytime we can fulfill that need for our students, we are gonna do it.”
Cantrell said implementing the program was a no-brainer, as the school system recently had success with its summer meal program. Cantrell said students from ages 2-18 are eligible for a free meal.
“If you got a small one that hasn’t started school yet, they are eligible as well,” Cantrell said. “You just bring them to campus, there’s no form required. You just come in and let the cafeteria staff know that you are there to get a supper meal for a student, and then if you are school age, like I said, it goes through 18, so if you are on campus, you just stay.”
Cantrell said the meal consists of the five components of a complete meal. Those components are one meat, one grain, one fruit, one veggie, and a milk. Cantrell said the meals are not grab-and-go. Cantrell said students must eat the meal in the cafeteria.
“They (ETHRA) partner with USDA a lot to offer programs like this, so we became familiar with ETHRA once the state funding for summer food was kind of pulled this past school year. It was a pivot for us to seek out other agencies that offered a similar program.”
Cantrell said the school system is using portions of grants and local money to pay for the new program. Cantrell said the school system is excited to begin offering the new program.
