RUSKIN, Fla. — The summer meal program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture is aimed at helping families in rural areas, and it’s back for the first time since the pandemic. 

On the program’s opening day last week in Ruskin, the response was overwhelming. The site was so busy, it ran out of food within the first few hours of opening. 

Car after car after car, all lined up for hours, waiting to receive a meal box. Matthew Phipps, a father of eight, was among those in line. 

“I’ve been in line since 9:20 a.m. and it’s 11:14 a.m., so an hour and fifty minutes,” Phipps said of his wait.

After a recent surgery, Phipps and his family is trying to survive off his wife’s income, and like many families, he said they needed some extra help.

“We’re out here trying to get some food for the family,” he said. “For the kids who are home during the summer time, and the economy is very hard right now.”

While the program is through USDA, Hillsborough County Schools is helping distribute it at the South County Career Center in Ruskin. Families fill out a form with each of their children’s names, then receive a meal box with seven days of breakfast and lunch inside. 

Hillsborough Schools officials said the need is great. 

Shani Hall, the General Manager of Student Nutrition Services for Hillsborough Schools, said the event started the day with 768 boxes, but cars had lined up hours before they even opened at 8 a.m., and they ran out within hours, forcing them to close early. 

“We know there’s just a big element of need throughout our community,” Hall said. “And those kids, a lot of them, just don’t have food on the table.

“What this tells me is that people are having a harder time making ends meet.  Even people with jobs, it’s just really hard right now, and this gives us a way to provide for those kids.”  

Hall said she’s working on having more boxes available for the next distribution day, and in the meantime, Matthew says his family is extremely grateful for the summer meal program, and despite the line, “We’ll definitely come back, but I’ll make sure we come back earlier, so I can avoid the line, yes because everything’s on my wife right now, so it’ll definitely help out.”

The summer meal program distributes meal boxes every Wednesday starting at 8 a.m. at the South County Career Center in Ruskin. Food also is available at school sites throughout Hillsborough County.