Students flock to Depot Park for Ironwood lunch program

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Ironwood - Even though area schools are out for the summer, Ironwood Area Schools' Food Service program is hard at work on the district's summer lunch program.

Ironwood Food Service Director Mary Hampston Kusz said over 200 students attended Tuesday's meal at Ironwood's Depot Park, enjoying not only a nutritious lunch but also an activity that gets them out of the house.

"During the school year, they have a place to go and a place to meet that has their lunches. Then in the summer, when everybody kind of goes their own way, we need to have a place for them to come back together and have something to do," Hampston Kusz said. "It's more about getting kids back together and having something to do, so they don't get bored in the summer."

She stressed the summer program isn't income based, and is open to everyone regardless of which state they live in.

"If they're here from California, they can eat," she said, adding that she knows of several people who have grandchildren visiting from out of state that could eat lunch at the park.

The free summer lunches, which began Monday and run through Aug. 4, are served from 11 a.m. to noon every weekday.

Each day's meal will feature different foods; with June's menu consisting of hamburgers or hotdogs on Mondays, chicken nuggets or chicken "drummies" and macaroni and cheese on Tuesdays, Tacos on Wednesdays, sub sandwiches on Thursdays and pizza or Bosco sticks on Fridays.

Tuesday's turnout was undoubtedly helped by a grant-funding busing program Hampston Kusz started this year.

Running through Wakefield, Bessemer and Ironwood Townships on Tuesdays and Ironwood Township on Wednesdays; the bus allows kids who live farther away from Depot Park to take advantage of the free lunch program.

The Gogebic County Transit's bus is scheduled to stop at Sunday Lake Supermarket at 10:15 a.m., and Wakefield Bank at 10:20 a.m., every Tuesday. In Bessemer, the bus is scheduled to stop at the Department of Motor Vehicles building at 10:30 a.m., and Fairview Apartments at 10:35. On both Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Ironwood Township stops are scheduled for the township hall at 11:15 and Trinity Lutheran church at 11:25 a.m.

While the busing is new this year, Hampston Kusz said this is the third or fourth year she has organized free summer lunches at Depot Park - having them at Luther L. Wright before that.

Having it at the park allowed the summer lunches to expand what they could do, both feeding more kids and offering more activities.

One example of these extra activities was on display Tuesday, when local representatives from both the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University extension offices worked with kids.

"Once Mary brought this lunch program to the park, it was really easy for other partners to participate,' said U-W Extension's Community Natural Resource and Economic Development Educator Amy Nosal. "We're just one of the partners that participate (in the lunches)."

The summer program is also working with the Great Start Readiness Program, the Ironwood Carnegie Library and the local master gardeners, Nosal said.

Nosal and MSU Extension Instructor Megan Martell were on-hand to promote fitness and nutrition, which included the setting up the UW-Extension's blender bike - a bike attached to a blender that kids pedaling to make fruit smoothies.

The bike was a popular part of the day, with kids enjoying the tasty creations they helped create.

One of the bikers was Wakefield resident Noah Wright, who rode the bus to the lunch program with his mom and siblings.

"The bike is good for exercise too," Wright said. "You can make a healthy smoothie, while going for a bike ride."

Lunch was a good time to talk to the kids about healthy choices, Martell said, as they are having fun while learning important information.

"We're kind of getting them when they are having fun, so if we're relating nutrition to fun then we're getting a two-for-one," she explained.

Nosal and Martell said they were considering doing food demos during future lunches, and will be handing out coupons for local farmers markets.

"We're trying to get people jazzed about eating healthy, but then accessing (produce) locally," Nosal said.

The coupons, along with the smoothie ingredients and other costs, are funded through a Gogebic Range Health Foundation grant the lunch program was recently awarded. Hampston Kusz said the program also got a grant from the United Dairy Industry of Michigan; which covers a variety of costs, including transportation and kid-friendly picnic tables.

In keeping an emphasis on recycling and sustainability; grant money was also used to purchase biodegradable trays and utensils, so the program could recycle as much as possible and limit waste.

For more information on the summer lunch program, contact Hampston Kusz at 906-932-3476.