WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The Wichita Falls Area Food Bank is kicking off their Summer Food Service Program to make sure the community stays fed.

Jim McMahan from the food bank stopped by our noon show to talk about the program.

Carney Porter: Well, joining us now is Jim McMahan from the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank to tell us how you can help your kiddos stay well-fed here during the summer months in our area. Thank you so much for joining us today. All righty.

So we have some areas for those kiddos, maybe in the lower income households who aren’t able to get those lunches, they’re going to be missing out on now that school is out. Tell us a little bit about how they can get a hold of those.

Jim McMahan: We have five sites in Wichita Falls, the Boys-Girls Club Central, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest, and then Southside Youth Senter, and then Burk Boys and Girls Club will be starting next week.

But we offer meals there every day, Monday through Friday, and they don’t have to be club members to participate. They can just show up. It’s nice if they would let the clubs know ahead of time, so they can make sure they have plenty of food. Maybe a day ahead that if they want to participate, but they’re welcome to come just for a meal, and that’s all they have to do and leave.

No money’s involved. It’s free. And we provide anywhere from 150 to 250 meals a day to these six sites. And we’re excited that it’s starting today here in Wichita Falls and looking forward to an awesome summer.

Carney Porter: Yes. And it’s going to go all the way through August 1st. So like you said, it’s going to be lasting about two months there. How significant is that? I mean, some people don’t think about it as as as anything crucial. But when you think about those kids missing out on those meals, how does that impact them?

Jim McMahan: Well, of course, they’re used to getting- during the school year, they get breakfast and lunch a lot of times at school. And then in the summertime, if their parents work, they might be at home by themselves, and they can probably look in their pantry and maybe fix their own lunches.

But sometimes that may be slim pickings or maybe not as healthy as it could be. And these meals are nutrition, very nutritionous and they- they’re a qualified meal. The state guards or monitors what we feed.

Carney Porter: Right. So it’ll be good for them for sure.

Jim McMahan: It’s good for them for sure. And it’ll go through almost until the time school starts back up. So in August.

Carney Porter: Well, we appreciate you coming here. Thank you so much. Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back.