When school gets out in summer, many students struggle with going hungry because they can no longer rely on the school program that they are able to access while they are in school.

It's estimated that more than 30 million children are receiving either reduced price lunches or free lunches while attending public school but in the summer more than 90 percent of those children lose access to reduced or free lunches.

That's why a growing number of school districts have been launching summer lunch programs to bring food to children in need in their communities. In one region alone, the Lakota Local School District in Ohio managed to give out more than 200,000 lunches during the summer to kids in need.

They have been outfitting old school buses in many regions to launch these programs, in areas like Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, and other places. Volunteers with the program help kids get on the bus and find sandwiches, fruit, vegetables; they are assisting thousands of families in the regions that they are servicing.

Some schools had previously thought to set up those free lunch meals in the parks to help families, but the heat made it difficult in certain regions. That is when they thought to use old school buses, even the school bus routes, so that the food could stay in air conditioned temperature and it would be very easy for the children to come on the bus and access the service. Some of those programs are also using donated food items to give away to the children. Even with the public programs available, millions of children and families still struggle, and there are a myriad of private charities and organizations that have been established to try and address that need.

The average cost of a meal for a child at school in the United States is between $2.70 and $3.10, according to the School Nutrition Association

As many regions have struggled with school lunch debt we have seen a wave of private donations come in to try and cover the cost, but some reports suggest that it hasn't been enough to solve the problem entirely. There is a great deal of effort that's ongoing, to address the needs of these families during the summer when many children might be left going hungry, both private and public. There are still many who might be struggling though and perhaps if more people were aware that there was an issue, with many kids going hungry, then we might see an increase in voluntary support to address the need here.

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