Virginia school district buys food truck to feed students free meals over summer

DANVILLE, Va. -- A school district in Virginia wants to make sure students get their school lunches during the summer.

It's lunchtime at Woodrow Wilson Intermediate School, which means the grill is hot and the burgers are getting assembled.

While this may look like an average school kitchen, it's far from it.

"Food trucks are popular right now. They're popular in bigger cities. Well, we're trying to bring that popularity to school nutrition as well," said Phillip Gardner, Director of Child Nutrition.

From 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday, you can get your lunch - including a coveted favorite: chocolate milk - from the DPS Food Truck.

For kids under 18, it's free.

"It's just the right thing to do, I mean its just really a neat, innovative, agile way of meeting a need," Superintendent Dr. Stanley Jones told WDBJ-TV.

During the school year, Danville Public Schools serves around 5,000 lunches daily. And that need doesn't change when the weather gets warm.

"So I challenged our guys and gals. Let's feed more kids this summer - and this addition right here, this will help it out," said Gardner.

That's why Gardner knew this purchase had to happen. In the first week alone, it served nearly 600 meals.

The ratings? They're doing pretty good.

"This is my first time. I love food, like, I'll be eating a whole lot of food at every place," said one student.

"The possibilities are endless, so if we can double that, triple it, that would be awesome and its about feeding our students at the end of the day," said Gardner.

The district paid $42,000 dollars for the truck. Officials say the money was well spent because the vehicle can be used for other purposes when it's not serving food.