Is your child hungry? Schools expanding free food program to everyone under 18
Broward County Public School District wants to make sure that no children go hungry.
To make that happen, the district is expanding its free breakfast and lunch program to include all children under 18.
While individual schools still offer grab-and-go meals during the week, designated high schools will now have afternoon distributions to make it more accessible to everyone.
“In its continuing commitment to serve the community, Broward County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services is now serving free grab-and-go meals to ALL children 18 years and younger — regardless of eligibility status and even if they don’t attend a Broward County Public School,” the district said in a news release.
In August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it would extend its normal summer meal program because of the pandemic.
Beginning in March, Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties set up food distributions for students when campuses closed.
Miami-Dade said students attending My School Online can still pick up meals Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
“All students attending school for in-person learning are eligible to receive free lunch/breakfast,” a Miami-Dade schools spokeswoman said.
Monroe said it’s tackling food insecurity with the help of Keys Energy Services. The electric utility donated 2,400 backpacks that will be used to send children home with breakfasts and lunches “to all students who need them to help bridge the gap over the Thanksgiving recess as well as on weekends and over other holiday breaks,” the district said.
“These are bags we would normally have given out at community events,” said Keys Energy spokesman Julio Torrado said in a news release. “Since many of these events were canceled due to the pandemic, we thought this was a great way to use them. Food insecurity in our community should be something we are all concerned about.”
Broward said it will now be giving students meal bundles, for a total of 12 meals per week (six breakfasts and six lunches). During each distribution, meal bundles will include three breakfast and three lunch meals.
Children or their parents will be able to pick up the meals from 4 to 5 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday by walking or driving to the car or bus loop. If the child is not present, a parent must provide identification for their child to pick up meals.
The participating high schools are: Boyd Anderson, Blanche Ely, Coconut Creek, Cooper City, Coral Glades, Coral Springs, Cypress Bay, Deerfield Beach, Dillard, Everglades, Charles W. Flanagan, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale, Hollywood Hills, McArthur, Miramar, Monarch, Northeast, Piper, Plantation, South Broward, South Plantation, Marjory Stoneman-Douglas, Stranahan, Taravella, West Broward and Western.
For more information on Broward’s meal distribution visit www.browardschools.com/food-service or call 211.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
