Federal funding for arts and culture has been curtailed. Trey Kay looks at the reasons in the latest Us & Them. Also, the state board of education has approved another round of school closures and consolidations, the state Legislature is expected to take up several bills in the coming session to address foster care and children who are homeless, and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
Summer Program Brings Free, Nutritious Meals to Children
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During the fall and spring school sessions, thousands of West Virginia schoolchildren are fed both breakfast and lunch as part of the School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs. But when school is out for the summer, these meals end. This is why the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Child Nutrition started their Summer Food Service Program.
At the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Charleston, twenty-five children attended the first day of this year’s Summer Food Service Program, a program that, according to summer food coordinator, Amy Burner, ensures children eighteen years and under in lower-income areas continue to receive free, nutritious meals during the summer months.
“The program is designed to help families be able to find a summer feeding site,” said Burner, “where a child can receive a breakfast and a lunch, or a lunch and a snack, so that the parents don’t have to worry about where that meal is going to be coming from.”
Credit Liz McCormick
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Four of the twenty-five children who attended the celebration, proudly show their participation on the Summer Food Service Program promotional brochures.
Feeding sites can include schools, churches, pools, parks, housing complexes, and summer camps, but Burner says that just about anywhere could be a summer feeding site, and she hopes the program keeps expanding.
The kick-off celebration featured three guest speakers, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, Reverend James Patterson, and Diana Limbacher, a representative from the United States Department of Agriculture.
More high school students in West Virginia are graduating now than in 2013, and there are new improvements in early education milestones as well, according to data from the West Virginia Dept. of Education.
On this West Virginia Week, the body of a missing miner was recovered, guaranteed median income comes to Mercer County, and with Halloween over and Thanksgiving a few weeks away, what can you do with those leftover pumpkins?
We have a conversation with Marshall University's Turning Point USA chapter president. We also learn about a recently released horror film shot near Huntington, and the population decline in central Appalachia that may be getting worse.
On this West Virginia Week, food banks face challenges as SNAP benefits are delayed and the government shutdown continues. Also, an influx of cash may help lift people in Mercer County up out of poverty. We also explore the roots of Halloween.
