LUNCHES FOR CHILDREN AVAILABLE

Area children who receive free lunches during the school year will be able to continue the service though the summer.

A new program in Cape Girardeau will provide the meals to children in economically depressed areas.

Kevin Sexton, community service outreach representative for the East Missouri Action Agency, said the Summer Food Service Program is designed to extend the lunch program through the summer to children 18 and younger.

The program has been offered for several years in other parts of the state through the Missouri Department of Health, but no agency in this area has applied for the funding before.

This year the action agency applied for the funding, and the program will begin soon.

"During the school year, children have one nutritious meal at school every day," Sexton said. "In the summer parents have the same economic concerns, and sometimes more so. (Some) children lose out on at least one nutritious meal."

There are four local elementary schools that Sexton said meet the economic criteria for the program: Franklin School, 215 N. Louisiana; Jefferson School, 520 Minnesota; May Greene School, 1000 Ranney; and Washington School, 620 N. Fountain.

Of the 1,200 students enrolled in the schools, 778 students, or 64 percent, are enrolled in the free lunch program, Sexton said.

This high amount of students automatically qualifies the area for the program without having to enroll every child.

The lunch will be served Monday through Friday, beginning on June 13. Lunches at Centenary United Methodist Church will only be served three days a week.

Lunches are served in the following sites:

-- Capaha Park, Broadway and Lacey Drive, noon to 1.

-- Washington Park, (no address), 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

-- Jefferson School, 520 Minnesota, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

-- Salvation Army, 701 Good Hope, noon to 1.

-- Centenary United Methodist Church, 300 N. Ellis, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

-- Red Star Baptist Church, 1301 N. Main, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

-- Cape Girardeau Civic Center, 232 Broadway, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.