(WSVN) - A school district in Indiana is thinking of ways to make unused school meals beneficial to students.

Elkhart Schools came up with the idea of turning school lunches into take-home meals after they noticed a lot of food was going straight to the garbage.

The district partnered up with non-profit Cultivate to pull it off, WSBT reported.

“Mostly, we rescue food that’s been made but never served by catering companies, large food service businesses, like the school system,” said Jim Conklin with Cultivate. “You don’t always think of a school.”

Officials said the new plan will ensure that students who otherwise would’ve gone hungry after school are now going to be well fed.

“At Elkhart Community Schools, we were wasting a lot of food,” said Natalie Bickel, student services. “There wasn’t anything to do with the food, so they came to the school three times a week and rescued the food.”

In the pilot program, 20 students will have the opportunity to receive a backpack containing eight frozen meals each Friday through the end of the school year.

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