Lawrence church helps to provide summer lunches

The Outreach Church of God in Christ church in Lawrence is one of 12 Nassau County locations where Island Harvest is sponsoring its Summer Food Service Program. 

This program, which began July 2, provides free lunches and snacks for children 18-years-old and younger, which rely on free or reduced meal programs during the school year. This is the first year the Outreach Church of God in Christ at 226 Lawrence Ave. is part of this eight-week program that ends on Aug. 24.

Sam Amedegnato, the assistant director of the lunch program at the church said that up to 50 children are participating. “Lunches are from Monday to Friday, from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and must be eaten at the church,” she said. 

Food choices differ everyday but consist of sandwiches with turkey and cheese or chicken, milk, fruit cups, and every Wednesday there is pizza. Amedegnato hopes to expand from just having lunch to providing the children with other activities, such as going to the movies. “They just show up between 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., and they’ll be served,” said the church’s pastor, Richard Lacey.

The Island Harvest Summer Food Service Program is led by the Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the NYS Department of Education. Locally, the program is run by USDA-approved sponsors such as school districts, local government agencies, camps and nonprofit organizations like Island Harvest, Long Island’s largest hunger relief organization which supplies about 570 community-based nonprofit organizations.

Randi Shubin Dresner, the president and CEO of Island Harvest, said that through this program children can maintain a balanced diet with proper nutrients, since many of the low-income children in the area don’t have access to wholesome food.