Crystal Lake park, McHenry library host free summer lunches; no more grab-and-go like last two summers

Amid a bit of confusion, Betty Koch of Crystal Lake said she served 17 children free lunches Monday – fewer than expected for the first day of the free summer lunch program held at Ladd Park since 2015.

Koch, the owner of Thunderbird Preschool in Crystal Lake, partners with the Northern Illinois Food Bank to ensure in-need children in her community are fed during the summer when schools are closed, she said.

With the help of many volunteers, lunches and activities will be provided from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the park, located at 556 Coventry Lane in Crystal Lake through Aug. 12. When it is rainy or above 95 degrees, lunches are served at Vineyard Christian Church of Crystal Lake, 7105 Virginia Road. The church also provides bottled waters to the children, parents and volunteers in attendance on the hotter weather days, she said.

Monday’s numbers were low, Koch said, not because of a few raindrops, but because 10 children were turned away because they did not understand that the lunches needed to be eaten at the park.

This confusion is attributed to rules in place during the summers of 2020 and 2021 when families were required to drive up, grab meals and leave. This system was enlisted in response to COVID-19 rules restricting large group gathering, said Koch and Anna Karwowska, who had to follow the same rules while providing free summer lunches at the McHenry Public Library.

But this year, pre-pandemic rules are back, and lunches are to be eaten at Ladd Park as well as in the McHenry library, which also kicked off its free lunch program this week.

“It’s amazing,” Koch said of being able to help provide food for the children who attend. “We feed any child 18 years and younger, and registration is not required.”

On Tuesday, Koch said the number of attendees increased to more than 30 children, many of whom enjoyed the new play equipment in the park.

Any unused lunches are stored and refrigerated at the Salvation Army in Crystal Lake and can be served the following day, Koch said.

Koch said she saw an increase in children coming to the park for free grab-and-go box lunches during the summers of 2020 and 2021. The average number of meals provided and eaten in the park pre-pandemic averaged between 30 and 50. The summers of 2020 and 2021, the average was between 80 to 140, she said.

She expects with the high prices of groceries this summer, she could see higher numbers of children still, but it is “hard to judge.”

Koch and Karwowska each said unlike during the school year, children do not need to prove financial need to receive a free summer lunch.

Koch, inspired by the McHenry program, first partnered with the food bank when she and a friend, who helped feed children summer lunches in Wisconsin, discussed being “very aware that during the summer, food was hard to provide for young struggling families.”

She and her friend, Mary Fox, began the program and picked the park as the setting, wanting children to feel like they were just out having a picnic, Koch said.

Without focusing on the fact they were receiving a free meal, children could just “eat lunch in a picnic atmosphere every day,” Koch said.

Over at the McHenry Public Library, 809 Front St. in McHenry, the Northern Illinois Food Bank has been a partner since 2015 in offering free lunches.

Karwowska said the turnout Monday and seeing the children together again, enjoying each other’s company, “was great.” It also gave her opportunity to promote various library programs. The commotion of the lunches being served also engaged other library patrons to learn about the lunch program.

It is important to get food into the hands of the families and children who need it, Karwowska said.

“Being able to provide this service is just amazing for our community,” she said.

Not being able to eat together during the summers of 2020 and 2021 took away the opportunities to hear what the families were up to, how they were doing and what other needs they may be having, Koch and Karwowska said.

Karwowska said they prepared for 15 meals and gave away 13, which “was right on track for a first day,” she said.

Twenty children showed up in total and all participated in library activities. Some children picked food items from the “sharing bin” where others would place items they did not want to eat, she said.

“Just having all of them able to be together and to see all of their faces in person, having them hang out, I thought they had a lot of fun,” Karwowska said.

Jessica Willis, child nutrition program manager for the Northern Illinois Food Bank, said free summer lunches, which are federally funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will be served throughout the state until Aug. 16. The food bank’s program has been in place serving 13 counties via 120 partnerships since 2004.

In McHenry County, the food bank also provides free lunches to the Youth and Family Center of McHenry County, but, she said, those lunches are not open to the public. The meals are provided only to children enrolled in its summer programs.

Between the McHenry and Crystal Lake summer lunch program locations, Willis said the food bank provided 2,500 meals in 2019, 8,300 in 2020 and 5,500 in 2021.

The free summer lunches began when the growing number of free and reduced lunches in the schools was on the rise and the need for meals to continue into the summer was apparent, Willis said.

“There are one in 14 kids who depend on free- and reduced-price school meals,” Willis said. “That is quite a gap for kids who count on school for breakfast and lunch, then they get out and, now what? We know there is that need there, and we are trying to help bridge that gap.”

More information on the McHenry Public Library lunch program is available at bit.ly/McHenrySummerLunches.