Korean dumplings, meatballs and chicken nuggets were among lunch entrées as the Panther Valley School District’s Summer Feeding Program moved into its second week on Tuesday.

The district distributes free breakfasts and lunches two days a week throughout the summer, but it’s not just food for one day.

District staff prepare two meals a day for all seven days of the week - providing three days of food on Tuesday, and four days of food on Thursday.

Shortly after 9 a.m., Susan Turturro packed up the last of the 1,800 lunches going out to the community delivery sites for Tuesday’s distribution. Each entrée came with a vegetable, some with a roll, and fruit.

Lunches packed in white plastic bags stacked two-high lined tables in the junior/senior high school cafeteria, waiting to be loaded in the van for distribution.

Another 600 bags filled with grab-and-go breakfast foods, such as Pop-Tarts, bars or muffin tops, juice and fresh and dried fruit were also prepared and ready for delivery.

Inside the kitchen, staff was already working on 2,400 meals needed for Thursday’s distribution, the large walk-in refrigerator already stacked high.

Many of the meals just need to be heated up, said Angie Hernandez, another cafeteria employee, who was filling containers with mini-corndogs and green beans, while pierogies were prepped with butter at the next table.

“Sometimes, we give them sandwiches, and they sit in the park and eat them right away,” she said.

Distribution sites include The Batter’s Box Grille in Summit Hill from 10 to 10:30 a.m.; the Panther Valley Stadium and Lansford Townhouses, 11:15 to 11:45 a.m., the Coaldale Complex, 12:30 to 1 p.m., and the Panther Valley Elementary School from 1:30 to 2 p.m.

On Thursdays, the district combines the summer feeding program with its food pantry program, usually held the third Wednesday of the month at the elementary school.

Robert Palazzo, elementary principal, said the district is trying something different this summer, dividing up its monthly distribution into weekly bags to be distributed to households in need throughout the Panther Valley.

People will be able to access the pantry bags in each of the four communities that make up the Panther Valley district each week in June and July, and the district will evaluate how the divided up distribution worked, he said.

“Some people don’t have transportation, and we want to make sure they have access,” Palazzo said.

Unlike the pantry, the summer feeding program only provides meals for children under 18 in the community - so even if parents have younger than school age children, they can get meals.

Anne Marie Johnson of Lansford came out early for the free summer meals for her four children, ages 8, 5, 4, and 2 - as there was a quite a line the previous Thursday, she said.

With grocery prices continuing to climb, the summer meals really help her family, she said.

“Our normal food order, the prices are higher than the month before and we’re getting less,” Johnson said. “The same amount of money, but you get less. So, this helps.”

The district along with its partners in the summer feeding program want to help out families and feed the children, said Marco Cortes, food service director with The Nutrition Group.

“We want to make sure the kids are getting fed in the summer,” he said. “It’s a poor community. The people are very happy and very grateful for what we’re doing.”

Business manager Jesse Walck said there is a huge need in the community, and the district is glad to bring the program back.

“We did this for COVID and the year after,” he said. “We know there’s a huge need, and we’re trying to keep the kids on track for the summer.”

The district is reimbursed by the federal government for the meals it prepares for the program, Walck said, adding that the schools aren’t losing money providing the service.

And staff members weren’t mandated to work through the summer, he said. The cafeteria workers, or lunch ladies, came in because they wanted to help feed the kids, Walck said.

Cathy Pastor, who has worked for the district for 15 years, said that the job is all about the kids.

“We’re feeding our children,” she said, “And making sure we’re giving them healthy breakfast and lunch.”