Project Bread grant feeds 1,300 in Revere

REVERE – Jennifer Salmeron and her brother, Anthony, didn?t need to explain why they like the Garfield School?s healthy summer meals program Tuesday as they wolfed down big bites of whole wheat pizza.The pair and younger brother, David, spend summer weekday mornings and early afternoons playing and taking a break for lunch at the Garfield along with other kids from across Revere.The free meals, provided with help of a $10,000 gift from Project Bread, save parents an average of $3 a day per child on lunch costs. Project Bread Education Policy Director Elaine Taber said the savings is important at a time when basic food prices are rising.Project Bread?s research into hunger in Revere indicates one child of three in some sections of the city “live in a family unable to meet its basic need for food.”Project Bread spokeswoman Rita Guastella said the healthy meals are aimed at counteracting an increase in childhood obesity spurred by an overabundance of processed, high fat food in adolescent diets.For Jennifer and Anthony, that?s good news because she likes carrots and he likes apples and other fruit.Besides pizza, the Garfield?s summer menu includes hamburger with a vegetable, chicken teriyaki and pocket sandwiches with whole wheat bread.?We don?t want kids sitting by the TV, eating potato chips and bored. At the Garfield, kids are eating healthy in a place where they are exercising, socializing and learning,” Guastella said.Project Bread also helps the city run a healthy breakfast program year round at the school. The breakfasts offer well-rounded morning meals to kids who don?t eat breakfast before going to school for one reason or another.Educators want to expand the breakfast program to other public schools where breakfasts paid for with federal tax dollars are served during the school year.In addition to the meals served at the Garfield, Project Bread and the city feed about 1,300 children a day during the summer at 14 other sites across the city.Those locations include Gibson Park, Liberty Park, Louis Pasteur Park, Hill Park and Sagamore Street Park. Meals are served Monday through Friday through Aug. 15 typically between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with breakfast served at Costa Park and the Garfield.