In Mesa County, 42 percent of children qualify for free or reduced lunch.
During the summer, many of these same kids qualify for a meal program when school is out.
Usually Mesa Valley School District 51 offers this program at four or five schools, but this year there’s only enough funding to have it at two.
However, this summer the district plans on bringing meals to some students.
With the help of a $50,000 grant from the Western Colorado Community Foundation it purchased a food truck from Denver.
"It’s got light mileage on it," said Dan Sharp, the district's director of food and nutrition. "It’s only got 22,000 miles."
He said the new food truck will offer hot meals in five high-poverty areas.
Sharp said the truck will stop in downtown Grand Junction, Orchard Mesa and Clifton. He said about 80 percent of the students in these areas are eligible for the free or reduced lunch.
"We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to be in the 120 to about 150 meals in total per day," said Sharp.
He said District 51 is working on renovating the truck in order to have it ready for food service by June 1.
