School may be out for the summer, but many school cafeterias and other community sites in McLennan County will still open their doors to feed students for free.
Starting Monday, the Waco Independent School District will serve free breakfast and lunch to any child, up to age 18, at dozens of locations throughout the city.
The Waco ISD summer meals program lasts through Aug. 14, and each site has different days and hours of operation.
The Texas Hunger Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger, estimates there are 2.8 million Texas students who qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch at school, but many of those students lack consistent sources of meals during the summer break.
Students who are eligible for free meals during school often do not take advantage of the summer meal programs for whatever reason, according to Texas Hunger Initiative research. In the summer of 2016, 3,761 students in the Greater Waco area ate free meals coordinated by school districts, but another 21,000 were eligible for free or reduced-price meals that school year.
Midway ISD also will participate in the summer meals program, offering free breakfast and lunch to children 18 and younger. Adults may eat at a price of $1.70 for breakfast and $3.65 for lunch.
Midway offers the meal program from June 3 through July 3 at Hewitt Elementary School, 900 Panther Way. Breakfast is served from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., and lunch is served 11 a.m. to noon.
Additionally, La Vega ISD will offer free summer meals in Bellmead, starting Monday.
Free breakfast will be served at H.P. Miles Intermediate School, 4201 Williams Road, from 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to noon.
La Vega ISD’s Lunch Bus Express will deliver free lunches to various locations for children under 18 Mondays through Thursdays.
Starting Monday, the Lunch Bus Express will make three daily stops:
- 10:30-11 a.m., Maranatha Church, Ashleman and Latimer streets
- 11:10-11:40 a.m., Brazos Village Apartments, Lake Shore Drive and Gholson Road
- 11:50 a.m.-12:50 p.m., Brame Park, Hogan and Briarwood lanes.
More locations of free summer meal programs can be found at http://bit.ly/2HNP1qx by typing in a ZIP code and desired date for a meal. A quick search for a 10-mile radius of the 76707 ZIP code showed 41 free meal locations.
— WACOTRIB