As the school year comes to an end, some kids will be wondering where the next meal will come from.
One free summer meal program in Pulaski County kicked off on Monday, June 5th to ensure kids and teenagers will have a meal.
"We do the summer meal service because 22% of Pulaski County youth 18 and under are food insecure and so when the school year ends and summer begins they do not know where their next meal is coming from. So we try to compliment that and meet that need by serving summer meals," said Jessica Frazier Emerson, the program coordinator for Be Mighty Little Rock.
Be Might Little Rock is an anti-hunger citywide program through the Central Arkansas Library System.
Emerson said she expects the program to serve around 7,000 kids over the summer.
She said the program ensures the food is nutrient-rich for the kids.
"A lot of the components are like shelf-stable milk. We also have hummus, peta sticks, things that have nutritional value and meet the USDA MyPlate guidelines but it can vary and some our sites are serving walking tacos. They have fresh, hot meals. Some of them are doing shelf-stable meals based on the amount of people they see in their libraries every day," said Emerson.
The program works to combat food insecurity, but unfortunately, there is a harsh reality in Arkansas.
"I think oftentimes we forget about a scarcity mindset. The scarcity mindset operates around the idea that if you do not know where your next meal is there is panic. If we do not know where our next meal is then we are going to be really panicked and a lot of us do not have that experience but a lot of our youth and our families are having that experience in Arkansas every day."
The libraries do not serve meals on Sundays because they are closed but there are other options to get something to eat.
"We currently have ten Little Free Pantries in the Central Arkansas Library System and two community fridges. These fridges are fresh food fridges that are free and open to the public," said Emerson.
Click here for a list of participating libraries and times for the free meal program.