House of Bread holding free dinner for children in need of hot meal

DAYTON — Several programs throughout the Miami Valley do what they can to make sure kids won’t go hungry over the summer.

News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson spoke to a local school district that said it’s not uncommon for some kids to get their only meals at school.

The House of Bread in Dayton is holding a free dinner for kids looking for a hot meal, which is a big concern now with school out.

“Some kids rely on lunch and breakfast when school is in session and when they’re out of school, they don’t have those resources,” said Jenny Alexander, who has worked at Mad River Local Schools for twenty years.

Alexander said often times they see the kids come to school hungry.

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“You know when school stops, they’re still going to be hungry and unfortunately they don’t have the opportunity to get food,” she said. “Once a week on Fridays, we have bags of food that are set up at three different locations throughout the school district where parents can drive through and pick up bags of food for their child to eat throughout the week.”

She said since prices of food have increased, there is a greater need for this program.

“The demographics of our school district, sometimes its hard for people to get food,” Alexander said.

There are other schools throughout the Miami Valley that offer programs to make sure their students are fed throughout the summer.

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Trotwood City Schools has a summer food service program that delivers meals to their students’ homes.

Kettering City Schools food and nutrition services hand out grab-and-go meals at one of their elementary schools on Mondays and Thursdays, and their backpack program hands out meals for the weekend.

News Center 7 talked to the executive director of House of Bread, a nonprofit organization that serves hot food daily to those who are food insecure. Melodie Bennett said a good chunk of the people they serve are kids.

“We typically receive on average 200 plus people per day, about 25 percent of those are children that bring their families or their guardians with them,” Bennett said.

House of Bread will be holding free dinner for kids tonight until 6 p.m.

Bennett said House of Bread doesn’t just want to make sure the kids are fed, they like to be a source of stability in their lives where the families can trust them.

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