Lawton Public Schools ready to kick off summer feeding program

Child nutrition is crucial, which is why Lawton Public Schools already has plans in place to feed students across the city this summer.

That’s also why Daniel Ghrayyeb, director of child nutrition for Lawton Public Schools, is pleased the lunch hour will begin at one feeding site next week.

The free summer nutrition program is a long-standing tradition at Lawton Public Schools, which has made plans to serve meals during June and July for years. But the district has made changes over the years, to include the addition of breakfast at most sites. And this year, Central Middle School, 1201 Fort Sill Blvd., will serve breakfast and lunch all summer, beginning Monday and stretching through Aug. 3, meaning meals begin the Monday after school ends and end less than 2 weeks before school resumes in August.

The meal sites are popular: Ghrayyeb estimates his staff served 700 students a day during the Summer 2023 program. And that’s all students. LPS’ program is designed for any student enrolled in the district, irregardless of age, but also anyone under age 18 who is in Lawton on meal days.

“It’s not students; it’s children,” Ghrayyeb said. “We want to feed people under age 18.”

That is the reason Lawton Public Schools sponsors the program each summer.

“We’re here to make certain that kids are fed every day,” he said, explaining there isn’t a lot of opportunity to meet that goal in the summer. “A lot of time, summertime is hard on the parents’ side.”

So the district has created a program that provides breakfast and lunch at school sites (every site hosting a summer camp also is providing free meals), as well as what Ghrayyeb calls the loop. That loop is a series of sites that will be served by a lunch truck, providing meals at non-school locations that range from the splash pad area in Elmer Thomas Park to community centers and churches.

“They are places to eat for the kids, and things to do for the kids,” Ghrayyeb said, of the sites that will be served by a distinctive LPS white box truck, meaning kids can eat safely then play on or in nearby amenities.

The loop service will run Monday through Friday; meals will be served at LPS school sites on the same days camps are offered, Monday through Thursday. Most sites will serve meals through June and July, with the service suspended for two federal holidays: June 19 for Juneteenth, and July 4-5 for the Fourth of July.