Whether summer was fast or short or both, this is Closing Week for the School District’s first and imaginative Free Summer Lunch daily program at LaBallona Elementary.
A noon hour visitor to the auditorium/cafeteria today found the familiar chattering of blue-shirted campers filling most elongated tables, delighted with the menu du jour.
As usual, more than 100 students – under 18 – were running a race to see how much food would fit inside while they visited with old and new friends.
The majority appeared to be age 10 and under.
Cindy Garcia, food service assistant in the cafeteria for Culver City High School and Middle School students, was standing nearby, drinking in the happy daily scene.
She was feeling melancholy.
Like other adult supervisors, she has become attached to the flow of students, especially regulars, who have been stopping by since June 24.
Ms. Garcia admitted she will hate to see the week and the summer season end.
In the first half hour, the staff served 106 students.
And that is close to the average.
But attendance spikes to 150 each week, Ms. Garcia said, when cheerleaders are the post-lunch attraction, teaching their younger colleagues what they have learned.
The ages have ranged, she said, from 1 or 2 up to 12, with only a smattering of teenagers.
