YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — The York County Food Bank is seeing a bigger demand these days and it expects to serve even more this summer when students won’t be guaranteed a free lunch.

“Typically we had been seeing 400 families and now it’s been up to 600, sometimes even 800 families that are coming through,” said Jennifer Brillhart, CEO of the York County Food Bank.

With grocery bills still much higher than normal the absence of free lunches would be a big hit to many families across the state. However, there are ways to make sure your family gets its meals this summer.

“These are our boxes that are packed and ready to go,” Brillhart said. “We are just busy preparing, making sure we have ample amounts of food.”

With students on summer break, families who rely on their kids getting school lunches have to look elsewhere.

“The summer is always a heavy time for us, the challenges increase,” she added. “And so the numbers start to increase in terms of the families that need our assistance.”

It’s also the first summer in three years families won’t have additional SNAP benefits, which ended in March, to rely on.

“We’re serving 10,000 individuals every single month. It’s one in ten children here in York County that are food insecure,” Brillhart said.

And when schools close, the statewide summer food service begins.

“That’s why the summer meal programs are so important,” said Vonda Ramp, the state director of child nutrition programs for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. “Children 18 and under are offered a free meal.”

Families can find where those meals are offered on this map. All you do is type in your location to find nearby meal sites, as well as hours of operation.

“Those summer programs feeding programs are wonderful, but it’s the whole family that is food insecure and needs that assistance,” Brillhart said.

Tom Hunter with New Hope Ministries in Mechanicsburg sees food insecurity firsthand.

“We’re serving over 800 families a month now,” Hunter said. “Maybe your bills and what you’re paying every month, you don’t have enough leftover to buy groceries at the end of the month. Come in, we’ll help you out, if you’re hungry, we’ll feed you.”

Last year, the Summer Food Service Program served 12.5 million meals.