Summer lunch program helps make sure Windsor kids don't go hungry

Shadia Maragan's four kids had a great time taking part in a new lunch program this summer.

Her twin boys, 11, and girls, aged four and eight, took part in the United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County's pilot summer lunch program.

"They had fun," she said in an interview with CBC Windsor. "All the kids in this area they like it."

The mother of four, originally from Sudan, has lived in the area for about a decade and is grateful for the program.

This was the first summer United Way ran the program, which ensured kids who rely on school nutrition programs during the school year didn't go hungry during the summer break.

The Summer Lunch program ran five days a week during the months of July and August, serving 2,500 lunches in all.

In the Windsor-Essex area, 38 per cent of food bank users are children, and school nutrition programs have been experiencing increasing numbers in recent years, according to a United Way news release.

There are already plans to expand the program next summer.

"Based on a survey to elementary school parents in West Windsor, over 600 families requested this program. So looking ahead, we know that there is a need, and it's not just in West Windsor," said Lorraine Goddard, CEO of United Way in a news release. "Our goal is to scale this program up so that we can say that no child in Windsor or Essex County is going hungry during the summer months."