Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, probably brought to you by
Crockett Sceptic for this July 25th, 2025. Have your host James behind the mic. We're joined
right now by one of our friends from the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools District.
I want to thank Ron for setting this up. We have Melanie Hanneman joining us. She is the Food Service Director.
Melanie, nice to meet you. Hello, nice to meet you.
Appreciate the time. Thank you so much for being here with us. I have a lunch lady
questions I want to ask. I have so many different things, but maybe another time.
We do here in summer. It's great to be able to talk with anybody in our school district and
not only getting parents and kids information that maybe they haven't heard or with the busy summer,
just kind of got lost in the shuffle, but it's a nice chance to just touch base with you guys.
I think that oftentimes as adults, we just kind of check out when it comes to the schools during
summer and we need to be paying attention and be up to date as much as any parent or anybody else
out there. I appreciate the time and certainly appreciate everything you put into our community,
doing the job you're doing there. It's vital work and we appreciate you. I see that we're going
to start with summer meals. I think that's a great place to start, not just because I'm hungry.
I know. That summer meal seems like a good place. What can you tell us about those?
Yes, so we currently have summer meals going on. It is a program through the USDA where we provide
meals free for anyone 18 and under all summer long and it's good to acknowledge it because even
when summer school ends, we're still out there providing those meals. So we provide them at three
different locations right now. We're at Lincoln High School and they are serving breakfast there
from 730 to 830. So students that are coming in the morning for sports to work out, things like
that can grab a breakfast. You could also swing through. They are outside right in the front and
the circle drive. So if you and your family are out and about heading out for the day,
you can swing through and grab a breakfast to go again from 730 to 830 and then they are there
from 11 to 1230 providing lunch as well. So families are welcome to pop over to Lincoln High
School to grab a free lunch. We are also at Mead Park near the splash pad and we are at
Witter Park outside of the aquatic center and we are there every day from 11 to 1230
providing lunches and families get to take home a breakfast for the next day as well. So two meals,
one step, we are there. Yeah and it from years past, it seems like there's another new location
on this as opposed to years past. So that's really nice to see. It also reminds us of how in need
this is and how important this is. It happens to be one of my big three topics that I care about
causes that I care about and hunger in our communities around the whole world, especially here in
our local area. And while we have focus and we have like the United Weekend event, for every
event we have there are still people out there that get missed and a lot of the times kids are
the ones that get forgotten in some of this conversation. I was one of these kids growing up
and certainly appreciated services like this and things like this. I know how far it goes for
our community along with so many other kids that are able to like you said going in for sports or
some of those. They're kids where you know during the school year these are meals are counted on
and families know that they can count on them. Once summer happens it's kind of an all bets are
off thing and you're not sure. So having these programs around is vital and important. Just as
important as that is us getting the information out there and making sure every citizen knows about
this especially the ones that could really use the services. Yes absolutely and in the summer
too we see at these parks the kids are playing hard. I mean they're going for days swimming and
playing at the park so it's awesome that we're able to provide these launches for them to grab
either before or after they're playing there. When it comes to the people that are working
and helping hand these meals out and everything we appreciate everybody that's doing that and
just want to shout them out and thank them. Are you guys ever in need of more volunteers or people
like that that can help with those services? We aren't actually we have a staff that are very
dedicated to this. So I guess the need is getting the word out. So letting your grandkids know
or families at church know or anywhere in the community that these meals are there. If you
drove by Lincoln High School today you would have saw our staff member with a flag walking down
the sidewalk trying to rope families in. So they are there. They are letting people know that they
are there but really we just need help getting the word out that these meals are there to take advantage
of. And as a great of a job as this team that we have here at the studios does get an information
out there for everybody. We all know that word of mouth goes so much farther so please do share
this information with people and especially people I think a lot of the time this is one of the
things I love about our Midwesterners and what it is to be a Midwesterner. We're a strong type.
We do a lot on our own. We're very good at those things but we're not really good at always
asking for help or letting people know that we need help even. We put on a good front. So I think
sharing this information even with people that you might not think need the services isn't a bad idea.
It's just information that they could share with somebody else too. And while we're at it I do
want to also again thank not only the people involved in this but the people that continue to
share the information. And these meals are once these do wrap up though keeping an eye on those
families and seeing where else you can help or telling them about focus or some of these other
programs that we have in the community. Yes and that leads into back to school time completing
free and reduced meal applications. We're seeing a lot of changes with our eligibility so just
reminding families when back to school comes make sure you're filling out those applications so
that we can we can meet all those needs. Understand summer gets really busy and some of this stuff
can get lost in the shuffle but that is a big one and we really want everybody everybody that needs
those services signed up for that one. If people do is there somewhere they can go to make sure
that they're signed up or a way to sign up? Yes they can call our office our food service office.
The number 715-424-6703 they can get a hold of us and they can check on that.
Oh you're good. Did you do that on top of your head? That was good. I got it in front of me
and it would have taken me a minute. That was good. Appreciate that and appreciate the information
Melanie. Thank you for that. I did want to talk a little bit about some of the changes going on
with the milk distribution that's happening. Now let the audience look behind the curtain a little
bit. Melanie was telling me a little about this beforehand. I still don't know if it's registered.
I found this out about 5-10 minutes ago and it still taken me a minute just as a kid that went
to public school and we always had the carton notebooks. That's adapted. That's changed a little.
It has changed a little so families that are participating in our summer meal program will notice
that the milk comes in a clear pouch instead of the carton and that is a change we made. I believe
as a central Wisconsin school that the milk we're serving our students should be coming from the
dairy farms that our families are driving past. We reached out and Nason Vilderry was able to
supply us with milk for our entire school district this year. They're out of Marshfield.
They package it differently. They put it into eight ounce clear pouches instead of cartons.
We are rolling into that change this school year. Each kid will receive a pouch with a straw
that they poke in and drink it just like a juice pouch but it's milk. That was families that
again are getting the summer meals. We'll have noticed that change already for everybody else
once back to school time starts. It's going to be a big change. Maybe the most important part of
what you're talking about their Melanie is the the struggle and the difficulty that every one of
us kids went through of opening those cardboard boxes and not getting it right and the milk don't
come at nopkin. It did happen to all of us though. That is a universal thing. It happened
at least once. You don't have to worry about that anymore. One thing I did not know about this
that you just shared right there and I really appreciate the effort and the thought the insight
to well we're in the dairy state. These kids should be getting the milk right from here.
That's fantastic. Really above and beyond. I find that really cool. I could talk to you for an
hour about that alone and how that process happened. Maybe sometime when we got more time we can
do that. I really liked to know more about that. I admire and appreciate that but I also I imagine
you guys see this too but the the the layers to something like that. Yes, the best milk they could
get. Obviously, certainly. We know that as Wisconsinites and living in the state, how good the
Wisconsin milk is here in the state and all that and the health benefits and those things. The the
cost of something coming from a city over as opposed to states over or something like that and
those things. But I'm also thinking about the every kid that sees that and sees that the address
on there or that like you said drives past there and knows that they're getting milk from there and
makes them think about where this milk is coming from and and a little bit more empathy, a little
more understanding of our ag industry, our farmers out there. Maybe them wanting to do this or
something. I'm not this isn't leaps and bounds everybody as a child. That's a sponge. You don't
know where their their interests and their passions can be sparked and can be started. It can
happen just as easily from something like this and just as importantly as all that the pride
that you feel in this like oh this is coming from my state. This is coming from I know or I even
know the family that it's coming from or something along those lines. It's great milk. It's a great
idea. There's so much more to it than just that though. I think that is really cool. I really admire
that. Yes. Yes. We we do have a big farm to school base here. We work with apple farmers and we've
had the apple farmers come in and eat with the students. We talk with them and we have great
farmers in the area and making those connections and bringing them into the schools like you're saying
and having students connect with this apple was grown by this woman right here and tell us about
the varieties and how you start your trees. So yes it was just another proponent of of our farm
to school where let's let's include milk and farm to school. Let's make sure our milk is local
and coming from from farms that kids see. I know just sitting here and hearing all this how much I
appreciate hearing it as a citizen as somebody in the community and everything. I can't imagine the
parents the farmers themselves how much they appreciate this and how much that that is a great bond
and a great relationship to build more and more and stronger and stronger. There's nothing but
positives to something like that and again great milk don't have to worry struggle with the carton
that struggle with the carton. I don't know if it was just me. I'm sorry to wonder if it was just
me now but I didn't seem to have troubles with that from time to time. That's great stuff.
Thank you so much Melanie for that. It's really fun hanging out with you getting to know each
other a little bit more here and hang out. One of the things I wanted to make sure that people know
is how they can reach you if they have followed questions or want to know more about some what we
talked about. Is there a way to reach you? Yes there absolutely is. You can email me. We do have
a generic school nutrition email and that will come directly to me. It is school nutrition
at wrps.net. Again my phone number is 715-424-6703. I really like hearing from families and parents
and students. We love to be in the schools walking around hearing what students want to see on
the menu or are looking for but it's important to hear from families and parents too and so we
appreciate all feedback on our food service program. We'll be mentioning the free meals of
our kids during our morning shows and our other shows and making sure to get this information out
there as well. You can find out more information at wrps.org as the website head on over there
and reach out to all our great people in the public school system like Melanie. Thank you so
much for hanging out with us. Appreciate the time. Thank you for having me. Thank you everybody
for joining us for another edition of WFHR's Rapid Support. Probably brought to you by Kraket September.
