Dayton Public Schools for years has provided cold, healthy meals to children or adults who have a disability. But this year, it expanded to serving hot meals.
For the first time, the Summer Food Service Program prepared and distributed hot meals two to three times a week.
According to Amber Whitmyer, the associate director of nutrition services with DPS, she needed to find a way to draw more kids back out to the distributions for healthy meals.
Typically, she said the staff would just do cold meals, and for years it was successful in drawing out students.
"But we noticed as time went on, especially during the pandemic and after, the kids weren't coming out as much. So I'm like 'well, what happens if we try some hot meals?" she said.
The district used a production line and meal-packing machine purchased during the pandemic.
Whitmyer said the production line allows for meals to be sealed and reheated easily.
"You put these plastic trays in, it goes down a line, and everybody's packing everything into it as it goes down the line. And at the end it puts this film over it," she said. "The trays in the film are oven-able. So when we were doing it during Covid, we then froze them and then we delivered the frozen meals."
Some of the meal options this summer included chicken patties, tangerine chicken and more. Nearly 30 distribution sites were set up across Dayton between June and July.
The program served more than 57,000 meals to children this summer alone. According Whitmyer, they plan to expand the number of distribution sites next summer.
“I think the biggest thing for us has always been trying to get some East Side participation. We don't really have a lot of community sites on the east end of town who really are involved with the program," she said. "So, we're trying to figure out ways to get some more community involvement in getting these meals out to the kids.”
David Lawrence, superintendent of DPS, said he credits success at the school to programs like the Summer Food Service Program.
"We've had an increase in enrollment, and what I attribute some of that to is this idea around caring for children, around being in positive spaces and all the other things that we do to try to bring families back to Dayton Public Schools," he said. "And I think our nutrition services and Amber and her team are part of that success story."
According to Lawrence, the district received positive community feedback about the hot meals this summer.
He said nutritious meals play a big role in helping kids thrive and grow through their education.
“When you talk to district leaders and they talk about school, they talk about academic outcomes. We kind of see that in reverse," he said. "If we can help develop and support the whole child — which is around nutritional wellness as well — then we can move toward academic outcomes.”
