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WARREN, Me (WXYZ-TV) – A school district in Warren takes to the streets to make sure its students get free and healthy meals throughout the summer.
The “Fitz Food Truck” with its characteristic blue color and the luminous designs on the side is unmistakable.
The food truck debut was delayed due to the pandemic, but it finally hit the streets this summer, feeding between 200 and 250 children a month, according to Holly Clay, food service director of Fitzgerald Public Schools.
Anyone under the age of 18 can come by and have a meal without asking questions.
“We came up with the idea to have a creative and fun way of bringing food to the kids in our district who might not be able to get to our stationary locations in schools,” Clay told Action News.
Clay said school food trucks were a popular concept in certain southern states, and she wanted to see if it could work here too.
The Fitz Food Truck runs to various locations in Warren on weekdays, one of the most popular being Austin Dannis Park during lunchtime. Click here for the latest route.
New menus appear every week, which are usually published on the truck’s Facebook page.
“We’re an entire CEP district, which means that all of our students have breakfast and lunch absolutely free,” said Clay.
The pandemic has made food insecurity a growing problem across the country for both children and adults. To address this for children, the USDA extended certain exemptions for free school meals through June 2022.
For adults struggling to find nutritious meals, Metro Food Rescue fills an important void in and around Detroit.
“I just saw all this food waste from events and catering and at the same time I knew there were so many people in need of food and it just stayed with me,” said Chad Techner, executive director of Metro Food Rescue.
The organization started last March with the idea of picking up additional food from restaurants, farms, pantries or catering events that might be thrown away and connecting it to groups or people who need it most.
In the past four months alone, Techner and his team have saved enough food to feed the hungry Detroiters in the metropolis with 400,000 meals. They work with many groups in the area to make this possible, including the Detroit Community Fridge Project, founded by Wayne State students; They have three fridges in the Detroit area that are open to anyone looking for something fresh and healthy to eat.
“It’s basically a stand-alone refrigerator outside of a store with a shelf for non-perishable goods,” he said.
As for the Fitz Food Truck, Clay says participation is growing as more people recognize the hard-to-miss blue cafeteria on wheels.
“They know our route, so they’re going to go anywhere, and it’s amazing to see that reaction,” Clay told Action News.
For more information on Metro Food Rescue, click here.
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