Danville Public Schools buy food truck to feed students over the summer

The Danville Public School district is stepping up to make sure its students get lunch during the summer, even though schools aren’t in session.

WDBJ reports that the district paid $42,000 for a food truck that serves free lunch to kids under 18 while school is out of session. Lunch is available every Monday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In the first week alone, the truck reportedly served nearly 600 meals. While this is a far cry from the 5,000 lunches Danville Public Schools serves daily during the school year, the impact is real.

In the first week alone, the truck served nearly 600 meals and Phillip Gardner, director of Child Nutrition for the district told WDBJ that “The possibilities are endless, so if we can double that, triple that, that’s awesome. It’s about feeding our students at the end of the day.”

The truck also has Wi-Fi and can be used for other purposes during the school year, but first and foremost, it’s about improving students’ nutrition.

“It’s just the right thing to do. I mean, it’s just really a neat, innovative, agile way of meeting a need,” said Dr. Stanley Jones, the superintendent of DPS.

And adults don’t need to feel left out. For the low price of $3.65, they too can buy lunch from the food truck. Any profits will be directed towards the Child Nutrition budget, which is about $4.6 million per year.