Alachua County Public Schools providing free summer meals to children and teens
Press release from Alachua County Public Schools
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – Children 18 years old and younger can receive free breakfast and lunch during the summer months through the Alachua County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services Department.
The Summer Meals Program, funded by the federal government, is open to any child regardless of family income. Meals will be served at about 70 sites, including local schools and community locations.
Children do not have to be enrolled at a particular school or program to receive meals, and they did not have to be qualified for free or reduced-price meals during the regular school year.
The program provides nutritionally balanced meals during summer vacation when school breakfast and lunch are not available. Baby formula, cereal, and food are also available. Families should call the FNS office at (352) 955-7539 two days in advance to make arrangements.
At most locations, meals must be eaten on-site. However, there will also be 12 ‘grab and go’ meal pickup sites located in Alachua, Archer, East Gainesville, Hawthorne, High Springs, Newberry, Waldo, and at the School Board’s Sivia Center (late-day pickup option). At these sites, families may pick up food kits once a week (Mondays from June 8 through July 20). Each meal kit will include seven days’ worth of breakfast and lunch items to prepare at home. These mobile sites are the only locations where families may pick up meals to prepare at home.
“Families can take their children to the site that is most convenient for them,” said Jamie Dicks, Director of the district’s Food and Nutrition Services Department. “They just show up during the serving or pickup times and take advantage of nutritious meals, with no registration required.”
Most sites will begin serving meals on June 8, with several continuing through July 24. Dates and serving times vary by location.
Summer meal schedules and locations are available at https://alachuaschools.net/summermeals2026 or by calling (352) 955-7539.
“Free’ meals? Free to who? Why don’t parents feed their children anymore?
Nothing is free, someone has to pay for the food. And instead of the loser parents its us tax paying g suckers.
C’mon haters. Many schools have full commercial kitchens in them. The parents are DEMONSTRABLY incapable of taking care of the kids. Making sure the kids have at least 1 nutritional meal a day is probably one of the biggest bangs for our confiscated buck that we get. Anywhere.
I’m happy to jail the parents for neglect and/or take it out of their tax refund (which just goes for junk anyway), but feed the kids. Lawdy feed the kids.
Better yet, let me keep more of my tax dollars to give some to the charity that is doing the best work to help kids. It would cost way less, and the outcome would be way better.