TWIN FALLS, Idaho — As grocery prices continue to climb, more families face tough choices about food. The Twin Falls School District's Summer Feed Program offers free breakfast and lunch to children ages 1 through 18 at 9 locations across town, Monday through Friday.
One of those locations is Twin Falls City Park.
WATCH | Find out where to go and what's being served—
Ruth Conway, the kitchen manager at Canyon Ridge, oversees five of the nine locations. She said those sites prepare and distribute 540 meals per day.
"We want to not only help the kids and make sure they have a nutritional meal but also the parents. We're kind of helping them with groceries, making sure that their kids have a meal for the day, that they don't have to worry about."
Conway said the program is about more than just filling plates.
"We're giving the kids some nutritional food that they may not get, or don't have time or anything, but this gives them the opportunity to get that."
The program originally launched with bagged lunches only, but for the second year in a row, breakfast is now included.
"The breakfast is a shelf-stable, so that way they can take it home and not have to worry about refrigeration, and it gives them a little extra to help them through their day," Conway said.
April Hollibaugh, from the Culture for Change summer program, said the Summer Feed Program has been a significant resource for the children in her care, many of whom come from non-English speaking countries.
"This program is absolutely amazing for our program because it helps feed the kids and it extremely saves on our budget, plus the kids definitely need it," Hollibaugh said.
Hollibaugh said the program has welcomed children from diverse cultural backgrounds, including accommodating dietary needs when requested.
"These guys are amazing because if you ask them, they are more than willing to make sure that things are Halal or have non-pork products and things like that. Just overall it's an amazing thing, it helps programs like ours, other programs all over the community. I just can't say anything more about it, it's just amazing," Hollibaugh said.
For more details about the Twin Falls Summer Feed Program, click here.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
