In Jefferson County, W.Va., lunch buses are part of the Summer Intergenerational Food Services Program, which in turn is an initiative prompted by the Feed to Achieve Act, bringing food to children 18 and younger when school is out of session.
According to a story from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, when the program started, no children came to the bus’s designated stop, so:
Senator John Unger, a Democrat from Berkeley County, is the brains behind the Lunch Bus, and he decided if the kids weren’t coming to the bus, he would take the food to them.
We drove into a nearby neighborhood. Principal Mary Ann Jenkins of North Jefferson Elementary seemed to know and remember each one of her students.
Senator Unger urged a handful of those students to come to the bus locations next time.
Senator Unger is a Lutheran pastor who also serves St. John’s Episcopal in Harpers Ferry; he was inspired by the parable of the loaves and fishes.
“So the concept of this is we are not just feeding children, but we’re also developing community around that little boy, around that little girl,” he explained, “That with that, we have seniors and children eating together, doing activities together along with volunteers, where if you ever put a senior and a child together, they both light up like Christmas trees.”
The feature, along with photos and a schedule of bus stops, can be found here.
Photo above: Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
Posted by Cara Ellen Modisett