New Meal Monkey truck making the rounds in Garfield County
Drivers in the Garfield Re-2 School District may be doing double takes with the roll-out of the new Meal Monkey food truck.
Thanks to $57,800 in grants from the Western Colorado Community Foundation (WCCF) and their donors, Garfield Re-2 purchased a food truck earlier this year. They unveiled the truck with its Meal Monkey branding at the Garfield Re-2 School Board meeting on Tuesday, September 24. Food Bank of the Rockies contributed a $10,000 grant to the project.
The truck will be used to support Garfield Re-2’s mobile Meal Monkey summer nutrition program, Lift-Up’s Friday nutrition program, and special events.
Meal Monkey is a collaboration between the Garfield Re-2 School District and Lift-Up. The Summer Nutrition program is part of the USDA federally-reimbursable school nutrition program. This program provides any child 18-years of age or younger a nutritious lunch. It initially launched in Rifle in 2015 with support from Garfield Healthy Communities Coalition. Garfield Re-2 provides meals Monday through Thursday during the summer. Lift-Up provides a free lunch to any child on Fridays (when Garfield Re-2 School District does not have school). Both programs stop at Cottonwood Park, Davidson Park, Joyce Park, and Centennial Park in Rifle.
For the last several years, staff has prepared meals in a Garfield Re-2 school kitchen and then delivered the meals to a variety of locations using a cargo van. As the program grew, Garfield Re-2 Nutrition Services Director Mary McPhee knew changes were necessary.
“We did not have enough space or resources to meet the demands that we continue to see,” explained McPhee. “When WCCF offered us support for a food truck, it seemed like a dream come true. The truck will create many opportunities to grow the program and develop new opportunities for our Nutrition Services team.”
Read the rest of the Post Independent’s article here.
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