When schools let out for summer, there is a worry that some children won’t have access to a hot breakfast or lunch like they do at school.

Last year, Limestone County Schools introduced its Combating Hunger on Wheels, or CHOW, bus, to ensure students wouldn’t go hungry. The program will be back again this summer, officials said.

The bus will stop at various locations throughout Athens City and Limestone County to serve free breakfast and lunch to children ages 18-years-old and younger.

Teresa Rogers, child nutrition director for Limestone County Schools, said the program is part of the United States Department of Agriculture and is the first program of its kind in North Alabama. She said the first year was wildly successful.

“We had great participation and I hope to double that participation this summer,” Rogers said. “Every week last summer, it got bigger and bigger just from word of mouth.”

The bus is equipped with hot and cold boxes and a generator to keep food at a safe temperature. It runs Monday through Thursday, June 5 through June 20. No meals will be served on July 3-4 or on Friday. The bus will stay at each location for about 30 minutes before moving to its next stop.

“If we stop a couple days and only have one or two kids, we try to find another location that will benefit students more,” Rogers said.

Anyone eating a meal from the bus must eat on the bus and parents are not allowed to pick meals up and take them home.

“We have to hand the meals to the child,” Rogers said. “We encourage them to come on the school bus because they have to eat it on the CHOW bus.”

If an adult or parent wants to buy a meal, they can. Rogers said breakfast is $2.50 and lunch $4 for anyone over the age of 18.

One of the CHOW bus stops last year was Blackburn Trailer Court where Rogers said they fed anywhere from 50-60 children.

The bus brought more than hungry students together last year — it also brought Limestone County Career Tech Center students together as they designed and revamped an old school bus.

“All of the work was done at the Tech School,” Rogers said, adding students flipped the seats around and added a table in the middle to make for a moving cafe.

If a student or child can’t make it to a CHOW bus stop, the Piney Chapel cafeteria will be open for breakfast from 8-9 a.m. and lunch 11 a.m.-noon June 5-July 20.

For more information and schedule changes, visit www.lcsk12.org.

CHOW bus routes

Breakfast

7:30 a.m. Ardmore Boy’s and Girl’s Club

9 a.m. Athens High School in the football field parking lot

9:30 a.m. Athens Counseling Center in the Elm Street parking lot

Lunch

10:45 a.m. Athens Renaissance Learning Center

11:30 a.m. Madison Street Baptist Church — Corner of 5th Ave. and Madison St.

12:15 p.m. Ardmore Boy’s and Girl’s Club