School offers after-school meal for students

HERMINIE, Pa. — Yough School District students will be able to eat a hot meal at the end of the school day at the high school and intermediate middle school beginning Feb. 16, under a new after-school meal program funded by the federal government.

“It's an opportunity for kids to have a meal at no cost. We have a lot of students, especially those involved in after-school sports, who will be able to eat at school,” before their event, Yough Superintendent Janet Sardon said.

The At-Risk Afterschools Meals Program will be offered at Yough High School outside of Herminie and the Yough Intermediate Middle School near Ruffsdale, but students ages 18 and younger throughout the district are eligible to eat the after-school meals, said Andrew Bergman, regional manager for The Nutrition Group, which manages Yough's food service program. The after-school meals program is not limited to students who are eligible for free-or-reduced priced meals, Bergman said.

“It's a great program,” Bergman said.

Both Sardon and Bergman said they could only speculate on how many students might participate in the after-school meals program. Participation is likely to vary day-by-day as students involved in sports or other events could eat a meal before their event, as well as students from visiting schools participating at Yough, Sardon said.

Monessen and Charleroi have been offering the after-school meals program for the past two years and are the only other school districts in the region served by The Nutrition Group to offer such a meals program, Bergman said.