Parents and children started to line up more than a half-hour ahead of Panther Valley School District’s Summer Feeding Program at the stadium in Lansford Thursday morning.

Some sat against the stadium wall, while others stood and leaned, waiting for the arrival of the school district’s van.

On this day — the last for the summer program — Panther Valley staffers had some help handing out the prepared meals.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin came to help and interact with families.

Wearing a white shirt and dark bow tie, Mumin greeted all with a warm smile as he loaded bags filled with lunches and breakfasts into shopping bags and carts for parents and children.

He even helped secure some of the white plastic bags to the handlebars of bicycles that children rode to the stadium, one of five locations in the district where meals were made available.

Mumin embraced the opportunity to help families and young “learners” get through the summer months with healthy, nutritious meals.

“It’s just excellent,” the Philadelphia native and former Reading school superintendent said. “We crave these opportunities to get out and be able to show that you have a partner in the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

“It’s very important for us to be visible and support Panther Valley’s work,” Mumin said.

The district has a high participation rate in the summer feeding program, preparing and handing out meals for roughly 600 of the district’s 2,000 students each distribution day, said Jesse Walck, business manager.

The district’s staffers have been preparing and packaging 1,800-plus meals for distribution days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, providing children with breakfasts and lunches for a full week.

Superintendent Dave McAndrew Jr. said his staff wants to help the district’s students not only during the school year, but also throughout the summer.

“We know hunger doesn’t take a summer vacation and we want our students to enjoy the summer and play without having to worry about food insecurity,” he said.

More than 75% of the district’s students are eligible for free and reduced meals. The district’s overall poverty level is even higher, based on the number of families receiving some form of state assistance, officials said.

“This meal program is crucial in providing essential nutrition for the students in our community,” McAndrew said.

Panther Valley’s summer meal program is one of 2,000 statewide, but differs from others because the rural district is approved to provide and distribute meals for children to take home.

These non-congregate meal sites ensure children have access to free meals in areas where lack of transportation to distribution sites could be a barrier for families, said Casey Smith, department spokeswoman, who accompanied Mumin.

Panther Valley is one of 135 rural, non-congregate meal sites in the state, and it’s a number state officials hope to see grow in the coming years.

The number of non-congregate sites already doubled from last year, said Vonda Ramp, state director of Children’s Nutrition Programs.

“As participation increases, the funding will follow,” she said.

The state wants to raise awareness to the model and potentially reach more children in rural districts, Smith said.