Carter County school officials are calling the first week of the system’s pilot Lunch and Literacy Program a success one week into the program.

Monday through Thursday of each week during the month of June, the school system will be providing a free hot lunch meal to children at different sites throughout the county. The system finished up the first week of the program on Thursday, and Director of Schools Dr. Kevin Ward said everything went “really well” during the initial week.

For the first week, the program fed meals from the cafeteria of Cloudland Elementary School. Each child received a free hot meal and a free book.

“We fed a lot of students and gave away a lot of books,” Ward said.

The week began slow but by Thursday turnout for the program had increased.

“It picked up each day,” Ward said.

Just one week into the program Ward said he and other school system officials are already discussing plans for the program next summer.

“We’re going to try to expand it next year,” he said.

This week, the Lunch and Literacy Program will be active at two sites — Hampton High and Little Milligan Elementary.

Lunch will be served at the sites from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. The sites are only open during serving times, and the cafeteria will be the only portion of the facility open to the program. Children and teens may go to any or all of the sites during operational weeks, not just the school in their community.

Children taking part in the program must be supervised by an adult. The child’s meal is free, and the accompanying adult can purchase a meal for $3.25. There are no income requirements or registration required to participate in this program.

The school system is still accepting donations of new and gently-used books to be given out to the children. Donated books must be age appropriate for children or teens. Those wishing to donate books can drop them off at any of the county schools or the school system’s Central Office located at 305 Academy Street.

Ward said any books left over after the program this summer would be stored for use in the program next year.

For more information on the Lunch and Literacy Program, call 423-547-2917.