WOONSOCKET – Children in the city will have restored access to free lunches this summer at World War II Veterans Memorial Park splash pad through a planned collaborative effort.
The Local Insider previously reported on local organizations looking to bridge the gap after the Woonsocket Education Department announced that meals would no longer be served at the splash pad, but that they would be maintained at three schools.
The biggest issue with that arrangement, said advocates, was that many of the city’s poorer families living in the area of the splash park wouldn’t have direct access to the meals anymore, having to travel nearly two miles to the nearest location.
Bonnie Piekarski, of the Milagros Project, said this week that they’re now working with Feed RI, the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, and local community members and will bring back the free meals to Social Park next to World War II Park.
Lunches will be served weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon, July 7-Aug. 7, for youth up to age 18.
An informational meeting on the effort will be held on June 10 at 6 p.m. in the Woonsocket Harris Public Library, 303 Clinton St.
