On Tuesday, small boys eagerly doused slices of sausage pizza in ranch dressing from giant vats as toddlers munched on salad during lunch at Franklin Elementary School in Provo.

Provo School District serves breakfast and lunch each day for free for children under 18 during part of the summer at schools across the city in order to make sure low-income children get something to eat. The program is federally funded and aimed at schools with high poverty populations. Provo has been serving summer meals for more than a decade.

Provo's program, which served meals for summer school students, hundreds of children and their parents this year, comes to an end today. Parents say the free lunches are really helping their food budgets.

Carrie Bringhurst sat with her three children as they ate Tuesday. She said she's been taking her children to the summer lunch program for three years while her husband studies for a master's degree in social work at the University of Utah. The free lunches for the children -- Bringhurst doesn't pay the $2.50 it would cost to purchase her own lunch -- really make a difference in her finances.

"We have noticed -- our food bill -- it's drastically reduced," Bringhurst said.

Provo School District child nutrition supervisor Jenilee McComb said there is no way to tell if the program is more popular this summer because of Utah's declining economy and higher food costs, but she said the people who come are grateful for the help.

For some it's a fun summer activity. Cammie Woolley takes her two children to lunch because it's an activity they can do for free. It also helps that Woolley's husband works for an after-school program at Franklin and she can see him.

The lunches are meant to feed children who might otherwise go hungry. During the school year, the federal government reimburses school districts for free and reduced-cost meals for low-income children. When there is no school, and no school lunch, some children could be left without food.

"In the summer it's the same. Their parents work during the day and they're just coming to get lunch," McComb said.

She said she receives countless phone calls from parents who have had bare cupboards and found miracles in the program.

"We get those calls all the time," McComb said.

Bringhurst also likes the program because it gives her children something to do during the day.

"It's like a bonus. It gets them out of the house," Bringhurst said.

She said the children like to play on the playground, though 4-year-old Brooke Bringhurst said her favorite part of going to lunch is the pizza, followed by the playground.

"Who could think that serving food could make people so happy?" McComb said.

Anyone who wants to apply for free or reduced-cost lunch for the school year, which begins in August, can pick up an application at any school district office or obtain one from any school when classes begin.

• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at blusk@heraldextra.com.