The Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network has been providing free summer lunches for children and teenagers in multiple West End locations.

It is called the Summer Meals Program, and it intends to address the nutritious and financial needs of children and families.

“In Monroe County, about 50 percent of our student population receive free or reduced lunches. So, what do those family do during the summer?” asked Hope Christman, director of the Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network. “That was the whole purpose of the summer lunch program when it started, to help families in need when their kids aren’t in school.”

Christman credited Colleen Walsh as a big part of this program. She is a recent graduate of East Stroudsburg University who majored in public health, and is the coordinator for the free summer lunches.

Walsh started out as an intern before becoming a coordinator.

“We follow the USDA’s nutritional guidelines,” Christman said. “It’s a program of the USDA and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network is called a site sponsor.”

The Pocono Mountain Hunger Coalition has asked all of Monroe County to participate in the summer lunch program. The East Stroudsburg School District runs the entire program for its section in the county.

“We served last year just under 10,000 meals in about nine weeks. And that’s here in our rural West End community,” Christman said. “The biggest issue we face in a rural community is getting the kids to the sites, or taking the sites to the kids. People who are in need are not going to drive, use their precious gas in their vehicles. So, we try to take the program to where the children are.”

PVEN’s program focus is not just to provide meals, but to also provide resources for families in need, and to give children a social environment during the summer. They have conversations with the parents, highlighting the additional resources they provide. One resource they mention to families is the Pocono Mountains United Way.

“Everybody’s getting a sandwich, so you don’t know what their circumstances are,” Christman said. “They’re just going to get a sandwich. Kids are amazing because they don’t know, and they don’t care. They just see another kid they get to hang out with.”

Summer lunches are provided at the Sun Valley Fire House on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; Pleasant Valley Middle School, Monday through Thursday; Chestnuthill Township Park, Monday through Friday; Pleasant Valley Elementary School, Monday through Thursday; and Western Pocono Community Library, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Families are provided take-home meals at sites that don’t participate Monday through Friday.