Wabash County, IL is a small rural area in southern Illinois which is like many rural communities that needed a summer lunch program, but until 2017 there wasn't anything in place. In 2017, Melissa Smith asked the community to pray about an idea of beginning a summer lunch program with a concession trailer so that volunteers could carry food to multiple locations around the area where there is the greatest need instead of having a single location that could be difficult for families with no transportation.  With community support and donations from amazing people, the dream became reality and in 2018 starting with five locations to serve the children of Wabash County. In 2019, the Lunch Wagon was able to expand and reach 9 locations around Wabash County and feed over 12,000 meals during the 10 weeks of summer! 2020 has had many challenges all around the globe, and the Lunch Wagon had the opportunity to step in to help families even more and will ended up serving a total of 15 weeks for that summer. After 6 years of serving, as of 2023, the Lunch Wagon served 84,511 meals! We continue to serve hundreds of meals daily throughout each summer!

The Lunch Wagon is a non profit and runs almost completely by volunteers! Groups, churches, clubs, and many of our community companies have given funds, donated supplies, or volunteered to serve meals or sack lunches! This program has been successful because of the amazing people in Wabash County!