LUTTRELL, Tenn. (WATE) — A new YMCA of East Tennessee program is bringing free meals to students this summer. In partnership with the national nonprofit No Kid Hungry, they are providing thousands of meals to students in Grainger and Union County.
On Wednesday YMCA headed out meals at the Luttrell Elementary School. They said while school is out for the summer, some kids don’t know where their next meal will come from.
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“We know that food insecurity is a real issue for a lot of families in our community and that increases so much in the summer because we have all these kids that are getting breakfast and lunch at school,” said Bekah Grace, Director of Marketing for the YMCA of East Tennessee. “But when school ends, families are having to feed those kids and they eat all day long.”
As a way to supplement this, they are offering seven breakfasts and seven lunches for students each week, and parents said this takes some of the burden away…