Riverside libraries to provide free lunches

Riverside Regional Library is now providing free bagged lunches during the COVID-19 pandemic at all six of its branches in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties.

No income requirements or registration is necessary. Those who want a free lunch can walk in any time during the library’s open hours.

“We usually offer these free meals during our Summer Reading Program. Because of the on-going pandemic and economic struggles within our communities, the Library’s Board of Trustees decided to continue to offer the free lunches to anyone who might need them,” Jeff Trinkle, director of the Riverside Regional Library, said in a news release.

According to Household Pulse Survey data collected from Dec. 9 to 21, 29 million adults — 14% of all adults in the country — reported their household sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the last seven days.

For more information, contact the closest library branch: Altenburg Branch, (573) 824-5267; Benton Branch, (573) 545-3581; Jackson Main Library, (573) 243-8141; Oran Branch, (573) 262-3745; Perryville Branch, (573) 547-6508; Scott City Branch, (573) 256-2413

The bagged lunches contain a tuna salad cup, sunflower kernels, raisins, enriched crackers and applesauce.

Trinkle said the libraries will provide the meals throughout the pandemic and will continue “as long as we feel there is a need.”