COOK- A well-utilized free summer food program for children is back again at the Cook Public Library and in a dozen other Iron Range communities, but a change in how the meals are distributed has caused some frustrations among those who participated last year.
Meet Up and Chow Down, sponsored by the United Way of Northeastern Minnesota (UWNEMN), is offering free lunches to children 0-18 through Aug. 31. Volunteers and UWNEMN staff hand out bag lunches to children from noon to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday each week, rain or shine. On Thursdays, they pass out Summer Buddy Backpacks filled with food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the weekends.
“The Iron Range is passionate about keeping our local children fed,” said UWNEMN Executive Director Erin Shay. “We are so grateful for the community support that’s allowed us to not only expand Meet Up and Chow Down to offer more locations but also to create and grow Summer Buddy Backpacks. These two programs make a perfect partnership to keep local children from going hungry over the summer.”
The meals are 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.
For the past two years, distancing guidelines associated with the COVID pandemic meant that regulations were modified to allow families to take the meals away from the site where they were being served. Now that the pandemic emergency has been lifted, USDA and MDE have reinstated the guidelines requiring that Meet Up and Chow Down lunches must be eaten on-site, and that’s a source of frustration for many.
“The on-site meal requirement has always been a component of this program,” Shay said. “An exception was made in the last two years due to the social distancing guidelines of the pandemic. USDA and MDE this year re-instated the on-site requirement and are strictly enforcing it in the wake of a Twin Cities-based fraud case in which individuals allegedly misappropriated $250 million in funds meant to feed children.”
“While we empathize with the frustration surrounding this re-instated requirement, we hope this provides some context and understanding,” Shay continued. “Furthermore, we ask families remember to be kind to the volunteers who are giving of their limited summer hours to hand out these meals out of the goodness of their hearts and care for our local children. They do not make the rules for the program; nor do we.”
Shay has also heard from some communities where UWNEMN doesn’t have a Meet Up and Chow Down site.
“If you are wondering why your community is not listed as a site, it is either because we were unable to secure a site, kitchen, and/or enough volunteers for your community – or because we have not yet begun the outreach process to find a site, kitchen, and volunteers. Every site must go through a lengthy state approval process so we only have the ability to add a couple of new sites each summer. If you are committed to bringing this program to your community next year, reach out to us now to start the process.”