Purely as an observation and as a non-political comment: The variation in wealth and income in this City is staggering to me. We have $2-3 million homes on one side of town, and apparently hungry kids on the other.

Serving in 2 different schools on essentially the same campus is really dumb. They should be operating a second site at Castro instead. Sadly though, this doesn't surprise me.

The gap between our schools is vast, absolutely. Bubb/Huff/Landels = more money. Th/Castro/ML = much less, though I believe the poorer children at Monta Loma are pulled from the greater Castro area.
Last summer Monta Loma served lunch -- wonder why this year wasn't a repeat of two different school sites such as Castro and Th or Castro and ML? I agree that serving at a shared campus makes zero sense.

You reduced the number of locations by 80%, and are wondering why the usage dropped by 85%?

It's too bad this program is shutting down before school starts. Are there community organizations to help fill the gap? I'm already aware of Second Harvest's efforts, but if someone wanted to support these hungry kids, how else could they help?

random FYI: The city of mountain view recreation department provides help for low income families' children to attend summer camp- you see the kids at camp outside Rengstorff community center from 9am-4pm M-F from the end of June through July. Camp counselors also collect these free lunches from PACT, as well as morning and afternoon snacks,and serve all children attending camp, regardless of their income status. These two acts alone make for a really seamless summer- free of boredom and hunger, for many of our city youth. It's really sad that August = hunger for many, and potential boredom, though I imagine that there just aren't the numbers attending to make camp possible in August.
Anyway- in case one wasn't aware what the recreation department does to help, it's a big deal IMO.

Many low income families are only such on paper. Many people work under the table and can afford food. But since kids are formally eligible and get freebies right where they are- in school- so why not?
Summer is a different story, it takes time and effort to go get a free lunch, so they just find better options.

We would be very willing to provide multiple 5 lb blocks of either/or Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheese as a donation thru the summer for any group that may step up to fill the late summer void for feeding school children until school starts up again. Depending on need and demand, we would be willing to also donate bananas and other fruit to complement the cheese. I expect either the CSA or maybe ACME might have suitable bread to obtain for sandwich making at a free or reduced cost basis.

Please contact Kai Rasmussen at the Milk Pail if we can help.
Steve

Seamless Summer Meals are going to be served at Trinity Church in downtown Mountain View through August 5 at the same times. Volunteers can sign up through the Hope's Corner website: www.hopes-corner.org. Families are also welcome to a free breakfast every Saturday from 8-10 am and get a bag lunch to take home.