UWNEMN's free summer lunch program, Meet Up and Chow Down, will once again provide free lunches to all children under age 18 at the following locations starting June 3:
- Biwabik City Park
- Chisholm Kiwanis Park
- Cook Public Library
- Hibbing Bennett Park
- Hibbing HRA Playground
- Hoyt Lakes Public Library
- Keewatin City Park
- Mountain Iron Public Library
- Nashwauk Rec Center
- Virginia AEOA
- Virginia HRA
- Virginia Olcott Park
Volunteers and UWNEMN staff will hand out bag lunches at these locations from 12 pm to 1 pm Monday through Thursday each week, rain or shine through August 29. Additional UWNEMN volunteers will be on-site Thursdays distributing Summer Buddy Backpacks – bags with food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that children can take home for the weekend – thanks to a generous supporter.
UWNEMN Community Impact Coordinator Michelle Lampton leads the program and says communities are excited for its return.
“This program is filling unique needs in communities where children don’t have many options in the summer,” she said.
The growing reach comes with a challenge, however.
“The further out into our service area we reach, the more reliant we become on volunteers to keep those sites open and keep meals available to local children,” she added.
Volunteers are needed to pick up coolers of bag lunches, transport them to Meet Up and Chow Down sites, distribute and track lunches, and return materials for the next day’s volunteers. To ensure sites can stay open, volunteers are asked to select one day per week for the summer to volunteer if possible.
“I’m proud to say we’ve never had to close a site due to lack of volunteers,” said UWNEMN Executive Director Erin Shay. “The Iron Range is passionate about keeping our local children fed.”
Meet Up and Chow Down lunches are prepared by local schools, grocery stores, and restaurants and made free to the public with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)’s Summer Food Service Program. USDA and MDE guidelines require that children must be present to receive free lunches.
According to No Kid Hungry, only a fraction of children who need help when school is out of session are able to access the federal summer meals program, especially in rural areas where it can be difficult to get to community sites from home during the workday.
“We are doing our best to ensure the children who need these programs the most actually have access to them,” Shay said.
Individuals, companies, or organizations interested in staffing a Meet Up and Chow Down site for one day a week (either for one month, two months, or the whole summer) can click here.
Meet Up and Chow Down lunches and Summer Buddy Backpacks will not be served June 19 or July 1-4 in observance of federal holidays.
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
- mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or - fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or - email:
Program.Intake@usda.gov