Sisters schools launch summer lunch program

The Sisters School District will sponsor a summer lunch program for all children under the age of 18.

The program is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and provides free lunch to all children. No school district funds will be used.

The program will be located at Sisters Elementary School, 611 E. Cascade Ave., and will operate Monday through Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from June 22 until August 21. The program will not operate on July 3.

"Our census information shows that the downtown Sisters area is eligible," said school district operations manager Leland Bliss.

There is no application process or means testing.

"They just show up and they get lunch," Bliss said. "Simple as that."

However, food must be consumed at the lunch site. The menu will vary from day to day, including ham and cheese, turkey sandwiches, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and the like.

Bliss acknowledges that the lack of qualification or means testing means that some participants will get a free lunch who could well afford to buy lunch in town - but that's the way the program works.

"They get a lot of complaints about that, ODE (Oregon Department of Education) does," Bliss said.

Bliss said that the program must have good participation to continue.

"I have to have a certain level of participation or we can't afford to do it," Bliss said. "We don't want it to cost the district anything. I would probably shut it down before it came to that."

The program will employ two to four providers for a couple hours a day at the meal site.

Call 549-8521 ext. 4017 for more information.