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From YouTube: Buncombe News Update :: Super Summer Meals Program
Description
This year, thanks to the collaborative effort of Buncombe County Schools, Buncombe County Parks, Greenways and Recreation Department, YMCA of WNC and others, approximately 2000 children will have the opportunity to enjoy free meals daily at over 20 sites throughout the county. Buncombe County Schools is one of 12 out of the state's 115 school districts to serve as a pilot for expanding summer meals. The pilot program is a collaboration between No Kid Hungry NC, the NC Department of Public Instruction, and the NC Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Public Health. The US Department of Agriculture has granted a special waiver to the pilot participants that allow them to waive some of the administrative requirements and receive the highest reimbursement rates for meals served. Buncombe County Schools is receiving a mini-grant from No Kid Hungry to help defray operational expenses.
Sites include many YMCA of Western North Carolina summer camp locations, as well as four Buncombe County pool sites (Erwin, Owen, Hominy Valley Park and North Buncombe Park pools) and additional faith-based locations.
Having the meal sites at locations where children WANT to come and enjoy the outdoors has the added value of encouraging participation in the program and fighting obesity. There will be no paperwork to fill out and no questions asked. Anyone under 18 is welcome to pick up a lunch.
A
We're
very
glad
everyone's
here
today
we
want
to
celebrate
a
milestone
in
the
life
of
families
and
children
in
buncombe
county
every
day.
During
the
school
year,
thousands
of
children
receive
free
or
reduced
lunches
and
breakfast,
but
during
the
summer,
food
insecurity
is
a
reality
for
many
of
those
same
children.
However,
this
year,
thanks
to
a
collaborative
effort,
you'll
learn
about
this
morning
that
you
will
learn
about
this
morning.
Approximately
2
000
children
in
buncombe
county
will
have
the
opportunity
to
enjoy
free
meals
daily
at
over
20
sites
throughout
the
county.
A
Because
of
this,
many
children
will
be
fed
and
many
families
will
have
an
easier
time
this
summer.
This
is
cause
to
celebrate,
and
I
want
to
welcome
everyone
and
thank
thank
you
for
everyone
that
was
able
to
to
attend
today,
and
so
at
this
time,
I'd
like
to
recognize
dave
again.
Thank
you,
mr
chairman.
B
Thank
you,
mr
chairman,
and
it
is
a
big
divide
here,
but
there's
not
going
to
be
as
much
of
a
divide
between
children,
nutrition
and
taking
care
of
the
kids.
The
way
we
need
to
because
of
this
program.
You
know
every
once
in
a
while.
Something
comes
up
that
can
make
a
difference,
and
I
think
one
of
the
most
basic
things
we
do
for
folks
is
to
make
sure
they
have
what
they
need
to
succeed
and
food's
pretty
basic
you
and
I
take
it.
B
B
I'm
david
gann,
I'm
chairman
of
the
buncombe
county
board
of
commissioners,
and
I'm
happy
to
be
here
today
with
commissioner
jones
and
commissioner
peterson,
who
you're
going
to
hear
from
in
a
few
minutes.
I
just
left
commissioner
bailey
at
the
office
he's
going
to
some
other
meetings
and
commissioner
stanley
vice
chair
stanley
is
also
at
some
other
meetings.
So
we
are
excited
to
be
part
of
this.
B
It's
important
because
it
involves
our
kids
summer.
Meal
programs
can
be
an
important
source
of
nutrition
for
our
youth
during
critical
summer
months.
We
all
know
what
happens
over
the
summer
a
lot
of
times.
Kids
forget
everything,
they've
learned
and
have
to
start
all
over
again,
but
this
gives
them
some
structure
and
maybe
some
families
that
there's
not
as
much
structure.
B
Not
only
will
summer
meal
sites
be
located
in
our
parks
and
pool
sites
where
recreational
activities
abound,
but
our
staff
will
also
provide
additional
activities
to
engage
children
who
want
to
come
specifically
for
the
fit
meals
having
the
meal
sites
at
locations
where
children
want
to
come
to
enjoy.
The
outdoors
has
the
added
value
of
encouraging
participation
in
the
program
and
fighting
obesity,
something
that's
important
to
all
of
us
in
buncombe
county,
and
you
know
the
kids
generation.
Z
is
kids
that
are
21
to
16..
That's
a
new.
B
That's
going
to
have
a
lower
standard
of
living
because
we've
borrowed
so
much
money,
but
they're
also
going
to
be
they're
not
going
to
live
as
long
as
their
parents
don't
do
and
that's
because
of
obesity.
Folks,
so
anything
we
can
do
to
fight
and
and
get
get
our
arms
around
childhood
obesity
right
now,
we're
doing
a
general
we're
doing
the
future
generations
a
big
favor.
B
I
would
like
to
thank
our
parks
and
recreation
department
to
fran
and
all
the
staff
that
have
worked
so
hard
to
make
this
program
possible
at
locations
all
over
the
county.
We
are
happy
and
we
enjoy
participating
and
partnering
with
the
buncombe
county
schools
and
all
the
other
partners
here.
Thank
all
of
you
for
coming
out
and,
most
importantly,
thanks
for
caring
about
kids
and
making
sure
our
kids
have
the
best
opportunities
in
the
summer
in
the
fall
and
the
winter
every
season,
so
we
can
have
the
best
citizens.
C
C
Over
the
years,
I've
had
the
opportunity
to
be
part
of
a
really
important
task
force.
Children's
poverty
initiative
task
force
and
it's
called
the
success
equation,
and
this
group
has
done
a
lot
of
research
and
we've
grappled
with
a
lot
of
statistics
and
and
then
begun
to
kind
of
think
about
important
collaboratives
to
really
address
these
daunting
problems
that
the
children
in
poverty
face.
One
of
the
things
that
we
learned
was
that
in
the
90s,
the
north
carolina
child
poverty
rate
was
below
the
average
of
of
the
nation
below
the
u.s.
C
I'm
sad
to
say
that
that
is
not
the
case
in
2012
and
we
have
long
surpassed
that
average
and
continue
to
it's
continuing
to
grow.
In
fact,
this
is
important
for
the
media
to
understand
that,
for
every
one
of
one
of
every
four
children
living
in
property
has
a
parent
that
is
working.
So
this
is
a
problem
that
really
stretches
across
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
classes
and
living
in
poverty.
C
But
we
are
so
lucky
here,
because
our
community
time
and
time
again
shows
the
will
and
the
ingenuity
and
the
resources
to
protect
our
children
and
to
help
them
grow
into
successful
contributing
adults
even
even
when
times
are
hard.
Like
they've
been
in
the
last
few
years,
we
all
are
responsible
for
ensuring
that
our
children
have
a
great
start
and
are
not
lost
to
the
effects
of
children's
poverty,
and
that's
why
I'm
so
pleased
to
be
part
of
this
great
panel
of
celebrating
the
summer
meals
program.
C
It's
been,
it's
been
a
it's
been
a
dream
for
a
long
time
and
people
that
have
worked
in
the
trenches
and
for
years
on
this
issue
and
and
way
to
go
here.
We
are
so
thanks
to
all
the
partners,
and
I
will
pass
this
microphone
to
my
fellow
commissioner,
carol.
Peterson,
who
I
know,
cares
very
deeply
about
this
subject.
D
So
he
is
actually
looking
at
the
other
end
of
the
spectrum,
so
to
speak.
The
folks
who
are
older
and
cannot
leave
their
homes
to
get
meals,
and
this
is
something
that
they've
done.
I
think
for
25
years
or
so,
and
I
think
that
shows
the
commitment
not
only
of
the
county
as
a
whole,
but
the
individuals
who
are
honored
to
be
your
commissioners,
it's
great
to
be
here
and
today,
is
about
what
we
do
best
in
buncombe
county.
D
It's
about
building
partnerships
that
best
use
our
shared
resources
to
meet
the
needs
of
our
citizens,
and
that
is
absolutely
what
we
do
as
folks
who
work
with
buncombe
county
government
every
day
and
how
great
it
is
to
be
with
with
the
other
good
partners.
Here
today,
we
have
many
families
that
feel
the
stress
of
providing
safe,
supervised
and
affordable
places
for
their
children
to
socialize
and
play
and
continue
to
learn
summer
meal
programs
such
as
this
one
working
in
collaboration
with
buncombe,
county
parks,
recreations
and
greenways.
D
Yes,
absolutely
less
paperwork
the
better
and
help
us
feed
children
when
school
is
out
for
the
summer,
we
hope
to
serve
meals
to
between
80
and
100
children
per
site
per
site
in
buncombe
county
and
each
one
of
the
four
sites.
We
know
that
about
1750
children
visit
these
pools
each
week
summer.
Meal
programs
will
be
available
to
any
child
18
years
and
under
who
comes
to
one
of
the
participating
sites,
although
they
do
not
have
to
stay
and
swim
or
participate
in
other
activities
there.
We
encourage
them
to
do
that.
D
The
meals
will
be
served
outside
the
pool
area.
I
just
love
that
somehow
I
can
see
them
with
their
sandwiches
and
diving
off
the
board,
but
it's
it's
important
to
know
that
the
that
the
meals
will
be
served
outside
the
pool
site
during
and
the
meals
will
be
served
during
the
time
before
the
pool
opens,
and
there
will
be
other
activities
for
the
children
to
participate
in.
D
Since
we're
trying
to
encourage
participation,
there
will
be
an
incentive
program
for
children
who
participate
pretty
much
during
the
whole
summer
summer
meal
programs
on
a
regular
if
they
participate
on
a
regular
basis.
I'd
like
to
thank
our
staff-
I
know-
we've
said
friends
name
several
times.
Lynn
pegg
is
here
other
folks,
all
the
great
folks
who
work
for
buncombe,
county
parks,
recreations
and
greenways.
I'd
like
you
to
stand
up
and
let's
give
them
a
real
good
hand,
because
these
are
the
people
who
are
going
to
make
this
work.
D
D
This
is
just
a
great
program.
We're
excited
to
be
a
part
of
it,
but
this
is
what
buncombe
county
does
best
we
partner.
We
see
the
problem,
we
bring
the
people
together,
who
can
solve
the
problem
and
that's
why
we're
here
today
at
this
beautiful
site
in
irwin.
Thank
you
so
much
for
being
here,
and
we
appreciate
everybody's
partnership.
E
Repeat
that
again,
our
most
recent
statistics,
our
data
55
of
our
students,
qualify,
receive
free
or
reduced
price
meals.
Now
I
want
to
give
you
another
piece
of
data
to
give
you
a
comparison,
we
all
understand
how
difficult
these
economic
challenges
have
been
over
the
past
several
years
in
2000,
that
number
was
34,
so
21
increase.
E
E
E
E
E
F
Thank
you,
buncombe
county.
This
is
so
awesome,
I'm
going
to
tell
you.
I've
been
in
this
job
for
seven
years,
and
this
is
by
far
the
most
awesome
event
and
what
is
so
spectacular
about
this
is
last
year
in
buncombe
county.
When
we
look
at
the
number
of
lunches
that
was
served
to
the
children
in
in
buncombe
county,
it
was
absolutely
zero
for
the
summer
food
program
and
to
just
to
think
about
this
year
this
year
serving
more
than
two
thousand
children.
F
F
But
I
do
want
to
talk
about
the
partnership
as
as
we
have
mentioned,
I
am
with
the
division
of
public
health,
but
we
have
partnered
with
the
north
carolina
public
department
of
public
instruction
in
conjunction
with
the
governor's
office
back
in
early
september,
our
governor
was
at
a
governor's
meeting
and
decided
and
heard
a
presentation
by
thank
you
and
heard
a
presentation
by
share
our
strengths
and
share.
Our
strength.
Is
a
national
nonprofit
organization
with
the
whole
intent
to
end
hunger
by
2015..
F
F
F
F
So,
basically,
what
is
included
in
the
no
kid
hungry
program
is
that
we
came
up
with
a
waiver
for
usda
to
reduce
some
of
the
paperwork
and
because
it
operates
in
two
different
programs
on
the
seamless
side,
it's
through
the
national
school
lunch
program.
It
is
seamless
they
just
continue
to
operate,
just
like
they
would
during
the
national
school
lunch,
but
unfortunately
they
continue
to
receive
the
same
reimbursement
under
the
summer
food
service
program.
F
It
is
a
significant
increase
in
the
in
the
reimbursement
rate,
so
we
worked
it
out
so
that
we
can
reduce
the
paperwork,
to
some
extent,
still
being
able
to
maintain
our
regulation
and
be
able
to
bring
those
schools
onto
our
program
and
have
them
to
get
the
higher
reimbursement
and
serve
as
many
meals
as
they
can.
They
also
get
site
recruitment.
So
we
have
a
team
that
goes
out
to
the
to
these
different
sites,
new
sites
and
help
to
recruit
them
and
do
some
of
the
basic
paperwork.
F
There's
a
grant
that
is
given
to
all
schools
and
the
no
kid
hungry
is
providing
this
through
share
our
strength,
and
this
grant
is
there
to
provide
a
little
bit
more
infrastructure
because,
basically,
when
you
really
think
about
an
a
child,
nutrition
director,
typically
they're
used
to
serving
kids.
That
is
a
captive
audience
that
comes
to
them.
Now
we're
saying:
okay,
don't
do
it
in
schools,
anymore,
take
it
out
to
where
the
children
are,
and
that
is
quite
expensive
between
transportation,
staffing
and
so
on
and
so
forth.
F
So
the
grant
is
there
to
give
them
a
little
bit
more
to
offset
them.
We're
also
doing
outreach
by
doing
the
posters
and
the
postcards
and
having
the
texting
features
on
all
the
different
websites
and
in
addition,
we
are
also
partnering
with
the
unc
school
of
governors
who's
actually
putting
together
a
guide
or
a
work
tool
that
will
help
out
with
local
governments
to
begin
to
operate
the
program
so
that
over
the
course
of
time
we
can
actually
have
many
partners
that
can
contribute
towards
serving
additional
meals.
F
So
basically,
I
do
want
to
commend
you
again
because
again
as
well
as
I
think,
I'm
so
proud
of
lynette
and
her
team
and
the
parks
and
recs
team,
I'm
so
happy
about
that.
They
alone
cannot
make
a
serve
all
the
children
in
buncombe
county.
So
this
is
a
great
beginning
to
a
great
and
enriched
future
for
buncombe
county
and
for
the
summer
food
program.
Thank
you
all.
G
Would
you
think
about
serving
meals
at
our
swimming
pools
this
summer
I
said
I
surely
would
and
for
since
I
came
here
in
2007,
I've
always
wanted
to
see
this
day
come
so
I'm
emotional
over
it,
because
this
is
a
dream.
Come
true
carol
and
holly.
Remember
well
that
I
said
in
their
office-
and
I
said
I
just
so
want
us
to
be
able
to
get
to
the
point
that
we
can
do
a
summer
feeding
program.
G
G
I
then
talked
with
paul
vest's
team
at
the
y
and
it
and
it's
just
grown
from
there.
I
actually
had
churches
contact
me
saying
we
heard
about
this
and
we
want
to
know
more
about
it,
we're
not
through.
Yet
there
are
more
areas:
more
churches,
more
neighborhoods
that
have
contacted
me.
The
first
year
is
the
hardest.
You
have
to
make
all
of
the
contacts
you
have
to
go
out
and
you
have
to
find
the
people
who
are
interested
in
participating
next
year.
G
Our
phones
will
be
ringing
off
the
hooks
and
we
know
that
and
we're
thrilled
about
that
buncombe
county
parks
and
rec.
If
you
look
to
the
back
to
the
fence,
they
will
have
super
summer
meals.
Here
the
posters
will
be
at
every
open
site
in
buncombe
county
where
we'll
be
serving
meals.
So
on
our
advertising
we
say:
look
for
the
banner.
G
It
will
also
be
through
the
texting
program
and
also
on
our
website.
We'll
have
information
about
the
locations
as
they
increase,
we'll
get
that
information
to
the
the
media
and
let
them
know
now.
This
site
is
available.
It's
such
a
privilege
to
represent
child
nutrition
in
buncombe
county
schools.
When
I
went
to
dr
baldwin,
of
course
he
wanted
us
to
do
this.
He
was
supportive
all
the
way
everyone
has
been
supportive.
G
G
This
group
represents
the
part
that
operates
administratively
plans,
the
menus
orders,
food
processes,
the
financial
end
and
develops
menus,
develops,
production
records
and
those
types
of
things
they
too,
and
all
of
our
managers
have
a
love
of
our
children.
The
managers
this
summer
will
have
some
employment.
G
G
G
I
expect
us
to
double
what
we're
doing,
and
I
know
that
we
will
working
together.
Our
children
are
so
worth
it
and
we
will
feed
our
children
with
great
joy
this
summer.
We're
we're
going
all
the
way
to
barnardsville
to
the
big
ivy
community
center,
we're
going
to
be
at
the
swimming
pools,
we'll
be
at
school
sites,
we'll
be
at
pole,
creek
baptist
church
we'll
be
at
first
presbyterian
swan
and
noah,
and
that
is
just
the
beginning.
It's
such
a
privilege
to
share
in
this.
With
all
of
you,
we.
H
H
The
children
in
our
programs
during
the
summer
months
are
active.
They
need
to
be
fed.
I
can't
tell
you
how
many
summers
have
gone
by
in
the
last
15
years
that
I've
been
here
in
buncombe
county.
I
don't
know
why
this
maybe
I
don't
need
to
do
this,
that
that
we
have
had
staff
on
our
payroll
who
show
up
for
work
every
day
with
an
extra
bag
of
bread
or
cold
cuts
or
peanut
butter
and
jelly
to
feed
kids
just
because
they
know
those
kids
are
going
home
to
a
hungry
household.
H
H
We
feel
very
fortunate
to
be
part
of
this
and
and
beyond
the
scope
of
issues
around
nutrition
and
kids
going
hungry
and
obesity
issues
and
everything
else,
I
think,
as
a
community.
We
ought
to
be
also
recognizing
the
real
value
of
the
message
that
this
sounds
sends
to
our
community.
When
you
have
organizations
county
municipalities
working
together,
sending
the
message
that
kids
will
not
be
hungry,
that's
not
acceptable
and
we
are
taking
steps
as
a
community
to
take
care
of
that.
H
Not
only
is
that
an
important
message
that
kids
get
and
understand
and
realize,
but
think
of
the
parents
who
now
don't
need
to
worry
about
putting
a
lunch
together
at
five
o'clock
in
the
morning
before
they
rush
off
to
work
or
the
time
that
they
maybe
can
spend
a
little
extra
time
in
conversation
with
their
child
because
they're
a
little
less
hurried
to
get
their
child
to
a
program
or
get
them
out
of
the
door.
So
this
is
much
bigger
than
feeding
kids
and
feeding
families.