Debbie Battaglia is the summer program kitchen lead at MacArthur Elementary in Binghamton. For her, keeping the children of the community healthy is a top priority, starting with a well-balanced meal. It’s a job that becomes especially important over the summer.

“My staff arrives at 5 o’clock, bright and early, and we work promptly until about 10 a.m., sometimes if the numbers are a little bigger, we work until 10:30 to 11, but we’re here to get the job done and feed the children,” said Battaglia.

One crew is packaging meals that will be distributed to 30 sites throughout the city, giving children breakfast and lunch options while they’re on vacation.

“It’s really important for the community because some parents, due to COVID, were out of work, so their funds were low, so it is hard to feed a family if you don’t have the money,” said Battaglia.

In the city of Binghamton, more than half of all children live in poverty, and for some, these may be the only meals they get that day. 

“We know there’s a high need in our area to have access to meals for breakfast and lunch, so they do a great job to ensure that students in our community have access to food wherever they are this summer," said Annie Hudock, Broome-Tioga BOCES senior food service director.

Many of these staff members work with students during the school year and Battaglia says their smiling faces are what makes it all worth it.

“When school is in session, they’ll even say when they come through the line, ‘This is the best food ever,’ and some children may not have eaten that morning and they come in and they’re so hungry and we know that that hunger continues over the summer," said Battaglia.