School children inside the city limits have access to free lunches in the summer. No so for kids in the county. That will change starting Monday thanks to the generosity of a Missoula church group.

Angela Johnson, wife of Missoula County Undersheriff Jason Johnson, said a group from River of Life Church will begin serving free lunches to school kids this week.

"We've always wanted to do a summer lunch program out at East Missoula, but there is no program out there currently," Johnson said. "However, we don't have a kitchen out there at our church, so the idea was that we would have a mobile kitchen that would serve several sites together, so we're going to be concentrating on the east Missoula area."

From that point, Johnson said the concept began to expand to other areas in the county.

"After talking with the Missoula Food Bank as well as the Montana Food Bank Network, we also focused on the DeSmet area as an area of need," she said. "So, we also be serving meals out of the truck at the Futura Mobile Park."

Johnson said the program will run every weekday throughout the summer.

"It'll be running Monday through Friday," Johnson continued. "We'll start in East Missoula between 11 and 12 and then from 12:30 to 1:30 we'll be at the Futura Mobile Trailer Park."

Johnson said funding for the program comes partially from federal sources.

"One of the sites out by Futura Park in the DeSmet area qualifies for the UDSA Summer Service Food Program, so the reimbursement will come through them," she said. "However, the site out at East Missoula does not qualify,because those kids are bused into the city, but we know the need is out there, so, we're taking donations for that. We'll also be taking donations for overall donations for the truck, so anybody that wants to donate they can go to the website called Feed the Need Montana where they can donate. They could also contact River of Life Church to donate, if they want."

 

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