Gilmer County Schools’ nutrition department is making sure every student has access to food, even when class is out of session. The annual Seamless Summer program provides children with free meals that can be picked up at locations across the county.
The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered through the state to feed children 18 years old and under through the summer. There are age acceptions for older students with disabilities.
Children can pick up meals at no charge, regardless of families’ income. Gilmer County can participate in this program because 50 percent or more of students in the area qualify for free or reduced lunch during the school year.
The Seamless Summer Program served 17,000 meals to children last summer, according to GCSS Nutrition Director Patricia Partin.
“It’s really exciting to see the students during the summertime,” Partin said. “We miss them so it’s always exciting to see those faces … and [the program] always gets positive feedback.”
Every Monday through Thursday during the month of June, students are able to pick up an individually packaged breakfast and lunch for that day. On Thursdays, they’ll get breakfast and lunch for both Thursday and Friday.
Nutrition staff and volunteers will be off from June 30 through July 3, picking back up with providing meals on the following Monday, July 7. The last day of the Seamless Summer program is Thursday, July 17, so staff members are able to prepare the kitchens for the new school year to begin August 1.
“It’s an honor system, so if you pick up a meal at one location for that day, we ask that that’s the only one that child picks up, and that’s why we have a short pickup window,” Partin noted.
There are seven different sites around the county where staff and volunteers are stationed to pass out meals. Depending on the location, times they are open may vary, and the Larry Walker Education Center also provides a breakfast pickup time. Those details are listed below.
Seamless Summer locations
﹣ Larry Walker Education Center Cafeteria, 1860 S. Main St., Breakfast 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
﹣ Bobcat Cafe Mobile Site at First Baptist Church of Ellijay, 164 Dalton St., Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
﹣ Tower Road Mobile Home Park, 456 Tower Rd., Lunch 12:00 to 12:45 p.m.
﹣ Orchard Road Mobile Site, Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
﹣ Gilmer County Health Department, 28 Southside Church St., Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
﹣ Ellijay First United Methodist Church, 75 McCutchen St., Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
﹣ Boys and Girls Club, 945 Progress Rd., Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
GCSS nutrition staff members prepare the meals every morning in school kitchens, and dozens of employees and volunteers work the pickup locations. Partin added, “We wouldn’t be as successful as we are without our volunteers.”
Orchard Church members have been volunteering at the Tower Road location for more than a decade, and passed out grilled cheeses, fruit, milk, cereal bars and more on the program’s first day, Monday, June 2.
“We want to reach our community,” volunteer Dianne Fowler said. “Our church is all about reaching out, seeing how we can help them and be a light into the world.”
She added that her favorite part about volunteering every summer is watching the children grow up, graduate high school and become active members of the community.