Malden Public Schools use food truck to keep kids fed during summer vacation
MALDEN - In Malden there's one food truck, that's no ordinary food truck. It's the Malden Public Schools food truck.
Bright blue, gold and covered in the different mascots of MPS schools and pictures of fresh produce, the truck is hard to miss. "It's a landmark," Malden Public Schools Director of Food Services, Cheryl Maguire said.
"I love seeing the kids' faces actually. The kids are really happy when they see the truck," Malden Public Schools food service utility driver, Paul Romeo told WBZ. He's been driving the truck since the program started.
The district bought the truck to deliver meals to students during the summer. They feed 1,000 meals a day to children in every corner of the city to make sure that they're still getting a nutritious meal when school isn't in session. "All of a sudden you come to the summertime, what are you going to do? Kids still need to eat in the summertime, so we offer the food truck," Maguire told WBZ.
They start getting ready at 5:30 in the morning, load up the truck and show up to different parks throughout the city.
"It encourages the kids more to be out at the parks to enjoy being outside," Romeo said. But it also makes it accessible for students and families around Malden to utilize the truck.
But it also helps combat food insecurity in the city during the summer. "They [parents] know that when the summertime rolls around that their child is still going to eat regardless if they're in school or not," Malden Schools Committee vice chair, Jennifer Spadafora said.
Spadafora said coming out of the pandemic, there are households who are still battling food insecurity, and this resource can lift a weight off their shoulders. "We have a lot of families in need. Sometimes that might be the only meals they get during the day," Maguire explained.
But for the kids, it's just a fun way of getting a good meal in the summer. "It's just like when you're a little kid and you see the ice cream truck coming," Maguire said.
The district hopes families will know the food truck is a resource for them this summer and that more children will take advantage of the program. You can find a list of their sites on the Malden public schools website.
