Ashland Independent Schools were one of several school systems to be awarded a mini-grant from KY Kids Eat, in partnership with Anthem Medicaid. In total, the workers from Ashland Independent served roughly 15,771 meals to those in need this summer. They had 21 summer meals sites this year, and thanks to the mini-grant, three of those were mobile meal sites.
When asked how the grant affected their summer meal programs, a staff member responded that “it drastically helped us get the necessary items to get our mobile meal route up and running. We had a vehicle, and with the grant money we were able to purchase Cambro cooler/warmers, dolly for transportation of said warmers, large carts for transportation of foods, signage for the vehicle, a sound system for the truck, and insulated bags for use on our mobile route.” Mobile sites allow meal programs to reach more c
children, who may not be able to get to meal sites otherwise. One staff member said that “It was difficult to get students to come out to their respective locations to pick up meals.”However, Ashland Independent Schools are already looking into bettering the program for next year. They “will be doing more extensive canvasing, utilizing social media more, and asking the organizations we visit daily to do a better job at spreading the word of our presence.” Hopefully those techniques will work, and next summer even more students will be fed by theAshland Independent Schools.