MEIGS — The Thomasville YMCA, as a sponsor of Happy Helpings, Georgia’s Summer Food Service Program, welcomed the children of Meigs to the local Meigs Community Center on Tuesday to enjoy games and nutritious meals as they kicked off their summer feeding program.

Cindy Kicklighter, the marketing and outreach manager of Happy Helpings, said that the state program works to provide free meals to children. 

“The program provides free meals, free nutritious meals, to any child who is 18 and under,” she said. 

Commonly operated during the summer when impoverished families aren’t able to depend on public school meals, Happy Helpings operates through sponsors, such as the Thomasville YMCA, to operate meal sites and provide meal service. 

According to Happy Helpings, meal sites are safe and supervised environments in the community where children may receive their meals. 

“So we work with organizations like the Thomasville Y, non-profit organizations, and they provide meal service, Kicklighter said. “And then they have meal sites, and this is a meal site, across the state of Georgia.”

According to Kicklighter, sponsors prepare and assemble their own meals, obtain meals from a school food authority, or obtain meals from a vendor. 

Tom Everett, CEO of Thomasville YMCA, said that Tuesday’s events were a kickoff for the Happy Helping Summer Feeding Program that will be going on until the end of July. 

“It’s a community-wide food program that feeds kids during the summertime, when they’re out of school.” Everett said, “There’s food insecurity, here in this community, especially with kids, and so this is a way to make sure kids have access to constant meals during the week when they’re out of school and we’re glad to have friends from the Department of Early Care and Learning out of Atlanta to help us with this kick off event.”

According to Everett, there are 37 accessible sites in Thomas County that serve two meals, breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday, commonly between 12 p.m and 1 p.m. 

“We’ll serve until the end of July, when kids start school back,” Everett said. “By the end of the summer, I’m expecting it to be in the neighborhood of 100,000 total meals that will get fed to kids right here in this community.”

Other meal sites in the Thomas County area include Camp Piney Woods, Faircloth Housing Authority, Francis Weston Park and Market Station, according to the Happy Helpings Meal Site map at http://www.decal.ga.gov/Nutrition/Search.aspx. 

For more information visit happyhelpingsga.com or call 404-657-1779.

Payton Fletcher can be reached at 229-226-2400, ext. 1826