St. Paul Public Schools’ bright green food truck recently parked outside the Frogtown Community Center. It’s colorful and playful, with purple and blue octopus arms painted on its sides. But unlike other food trucks, this one hands out free meals to children and teens under 18.

Children and adults relax on the grassy parking strip next to the truck, holding baskets lined with red and white checked paper and filled with yellow rice, a salad of fresh vegetables and sambusas.

“It tastes like a mixture of meat and toast,” says 7-year-old Eli Kithinji about the sambusas. He often eats his lunch at the food truck.

In 2022, the first summer the food truck was in operation, it served about 110 meals a day. This year, that number has more than tripled to 360 meals a day, feeding more than 300 children a day at the five locations the food truck visits across the city.

Many children and families in Minnesota who rely on school meals for their basic needs receive meals during the summer months through school-based programs funded by the federal Summer Meals Program.

In addition to the food truck, St. Paul Public Schools serves meals at 60 different locations, including schools, recreation centers and libraries. Between breakfast, lunch and snacks, the district provided about 6,300 meals daily from June through August of this year.

For adults, the price for a meal at the food truck is just under $9. Eli’s mother, Kristina Kithinji, is happy not to have to worry about lunch in the summer and says it’s nice to be outside, have a great meal and meet other people from the community.

Aquiyla Giles is the mother of five children who have been getting their lunch from the food truck for three years. “My children love it,” says Giles. “They ask every day if they can come along.”

Starting in 2024, the program has been expanded to reach youth living in and around neighborhoods where at least 50 percent of households are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

Two out of three students in St. Paul’s schools struggle with food insecurity, said Stacy Koppen, the district’s director of nutrition services. “Some of our students tell us the only place they get food is at school,” Koppen said, emphasizing the need for the summer feeding program.

Over the years, however, families have told Koppen that transportation can also be a barrier to food, so they set up a food truck that parks at different locations throughout the week. Koppen says that has made a difference.

“Many parents are working. They’re trying to make ends meet,” she said. “They have limited time themselves, so being able to be mobile and visit different parts of the community is a real solution that we’ve found works really well.”

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Koppen said learning doesn’t stop during the summer months and students’ health needs are unabated, so good nutrition allows children to return healthy and ready for the new school year.

One in seven children in Minnesota under the age of 18 lacks regular access to food. Dr. Liz Placzek, a pediatrician at Children’s Minnesota, said young people who don’t eat nutritious meals get sick more often, take longer to recover from illnesses and are more likely to be hospitalized.

“Childhood malnutrition is a major problem and leads to lower bone density, higher iron deficiency and also a higher incidence of diseases that we consider adult diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” Placzek said. She added that brain development occurs largely in childhood and hungry children have difficulty concentrating.

Placzek said children without adequate food also face higher levels of stress, which impacts their growth and health. At Children’s Minnesota, all patients are screened for food insecurity.

In 2023, grocery shelves across the state saw a record 7.5 million visits, and even more visits are expected in 2024.

Sophia Lenarz-Coy, executive director of the statewide nonprofit The Food Group, said inflation and rising food prices have led more people to hit grocery shelves in Minnesota.

“SNAP dollars just aren’t enough anymore, so it’s like everyone is using a patchwork of resources to get through the month,” she said. “People have to rely on the food bank to get the same support they might have gotten a few years ago.”

Lenarz-Coy believes that non-income-based programs, like the one run by St. Paul Public Schools, build dignity and destigmatize food insecurity because they do not focus attention on socioeconomic disparities.

As the lunch break at the Frogtown Community Center comes to an end, the food truck staff prepares to drive to their next destination, the Phalen Beach House.

James Sterling, who is in his second year of serving meals from the food truck, enjoys connecting with people wherever the truck stops.

“This is the coolest thing,” said Sterling, a longtime employee of St. Paul Public Schools. “I feel like I’m on a mission to make sure all the kids have something to eat.”