Summer Food Service Program will provide free lunches and activities for children

It's a troubling concern  for many parents: when the school year ends, so do the free meals during lunchtime.

"Not knowing if I was going to have food at home for them or available at that moment thinking what am I going to give them what am I going to feed them," said Darlene Sitzman.

Sitzman, a mother of three, says it's a daily struggle once school is out for summer.

But a federally-funded program is working to change that for moms like Sitzman. The Summer Food Service Program will continue to feed students who need it, even when they're not in the classroom.

"The U.S. Department of Education sponsors this program 12 months a year and they send money through the states to feed children below the poverty line at all of our schools through k-12 and when the schools close which was yesterday sites around the city locally open to serve hot nutritious meals to our children," Sr. Betty Smoyer, St. Margaret's Kitchen Manager said.

Starting June 16th, the Summer Food Service Program will provide free lunches and activities for children ages 1 to 18 in various parks and organizations throughout South Bend.

"There's picnic tables set up there's usually a couple people sitting there and you just walk up and they hand you a bag full of food and you just sit there you actually are required to sit there from what I learned and the kids just eat and interact with the other kids there's usually a bunch of other kids there," Sitzman said.

Click here to view the list of sites where the lunches are available.