The summer program continues to grow every year, despite everyone saying it just can’t get any bigger! Adding the King Center to our itinerary for this year proved to be a big jump in numbers.
During the month of June, we served over 26,000 meals to 18 different sites in the form of breakfast, lunch and dinner. July numbers are a little lower than June’s, but that is normal as not all children return to meal sites after the 4th of July holiday. (We don’t know why this is, but it continues to be a trend each year.) The good thing is our expenses are also lower in July as during the months of May and June we stock up on not only food, but our paper products.
The satellite sites closed on Friday, July 20th so the sites can prepare for the opening of Rock Island Schools on August 3rd. Our four Moline sites continue to feed and teach through Friday, August 10th. The Church of Peace site will be open until Thursday, August 2nd since that is the day the Family Literacy Program ends, and the Rock Island children head back to school the next day.
Once again, our volunteers are the source of success with this program. Our staff this summer of 10 cooks, cook’s assistants, and monitors also make the program run so smoothly. Nine years ago, the staff consisted of myself and one cook! Quite a change in the last few years, but we could not perform all the work we do without a highly qualified team! Thanks to everyone who continues to help when I call!
