Local Food Truck Provides Daily Lunches for Hundreds of Kids

The food truck phenomenon that's been sweeping the country over the past few years has arrived in Chicago Heights, but not in the form you might expect.

Our local food truck isn't a for-profit restaurant on wheels. In many ways, it's a lot better. 

In 2010 the Greater Chicago Food Depository launched a mobile program to deliver nutritious meals to children in low-income Cook County communities. Now in its third year, the Lunch Bus program delivers free lunches along 21 sites among three routes, including Chicago Heights. It runs Monday through Friday from mid-June to September, and provides some 3,300 meals every week. Last Friday, alone, the bus fed 249 hungry Chicago Heights kids lunch, reports the Sun-Times Media.

Typical meals include grains, protein, fruit, vegetables and milk.

“I like the carrots and the apple,” 11-year-old Chicago Heights resident Demar White told the Sun-Times Media. “The apple is sweet and the carrots are healthy.”

Here's a list of the daily Chicago Heights Lunch Bus stops:

• Hodges Park, 352 E. 16th, from 11:55 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
• Respond Now, 1439 Emerald Ave, from 1:15 p.m. to 1:35 p.m.
• Smith Park, 14th and Ashland, from 2:25 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.