While some children are spending the summer wondering about their next trip to the pool, there is a large group of kids here in St. Louis who are wondering about their next meal.
Summer is the hungriest time of year for underprivileged children and their families.
In one food desert of north St. Louis County, staples like fresh fruit, vegetables and grains are never taken for granted.
A pop-up food pantry, complete with cooking demonstrations and free lunch for children, has the goal of feeding families. The Wellston location is one of the 60 Operation Food Search sites serving meals to kids Monday through Friday throughout the summer.
The meals take the place of the free and reduced lunch many of these children receive during the school year.
But the summer lunch program can't provide every meal a child needs. So the pop-up pantry reaches a little further in satisfying the great need.
A total of five pop-up pantries on Fridays throughout the summer are offering families a way to eat healthy meals on the weekends. The goal is to ease the hunger pangs that may come on the two days a week free meals aren't served.
Operation Food Search will canvass neighborhoods ahead of each pop-up pantry to get the word out. The program is funded by the USDA.