During the school year, elementary students in Butler Area School District can receive meals for free from the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation and its Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program.

Instead of having to go without those meals in the summer, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has picked up the slack and is getting food to families through its new Summer Youth Cafes.

Additionally, Breakthrough Butler, a local nonprofit, is managing the City of Butler’s Summer Park Program, which also distributes food to children in need at the city’s parks.

In Butler, the Summer Youth Cafe serves free grab-and-go meals on a weekly basis, representing 10 meals in total, to anyone under the age of 18.

The Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program feeds nearly 500 children in Butler Area School District each school year, so it’s the need is obvious. Even more obvious that a similar program is necessary over the summer.

Without the Pittsburgh food bank and Butler investing in these feeding programs, would these children in Butler school district be getting the food they need to be healthy, or even enough to not feel hungry? These programs have the potential to help so many people.

On Thursday, June 26, volunteers at Center Avenue Community School served 63 children in a bit over an hour. According to food bank employees, the program served an additional 116 children at Emily Brittain Elementary School on Tuesday, June 24.

Nick Yannotty, Breakthrough Butler’s founder, said the organization served 15 children at two parks on Monday, June 16.

The food bank is also distributing meals at two other café sites in Moniteau School District this summer, raising the total sites in the county to four compared to last year’s one.

Reaching out to meet the needs of community children is important work. But the programs can only succeed if the children are bought to distribution sites.

Each of these programs run through the summer, while the Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program is out of season. If your family needs food this summer or you know of a family with food insecurities, check out pittsburghfoodbank.org/summer, or facebook.com/BrktButler.

— ET