SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Unified School District’s Summer Food Service Program is serving breakfast and lunch to anyone 18 or younger at city schools and community locations. The best part of the federally-funded program is that its free, with no need to fill out paperwork or to sign up.
Free meals during summer break help make sure kids are healthy and ready to learn when they go back to school in September. And for students like Natasha Ramirez, the meal options available every day are a reason she always comes back.
“My brothers and I have been coming every summer for four years and its great,” said Ramirez, an eighth grade student at Einstein Middle School. “There’s something for everyone. I mostly like the fruit."
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During the school year, SCUSD’s Nutrition Services serves more than 45,000 meals a day in school cafeterias throughout the city. Many students qualify for free lunches: About two-thirds of SCUSD’s 44,000 students qualify for a free- or reduced-price meal through the federal school lunch program.
Kids can head to any one of the below locations to get breakfast and lunch during the summer:
- Abraham Lincoln Elementary
- Albert Einstein Elementary
- California Middle School
- Caroline Wenzel Elementary
- Cesar Chavez Elementary
- CK McClatchy High School
- Ethel Phillips Elementary
- Harkness Elementary
- Hiram Johnson High School
- Isador Cohen Elementary
- John Still Middle School
- Leataata Floyd Elementary
- Luther Burbank High School
- Martin Luther King Jr. School
- Oak Ridge Elementary
- Pacific Elementary
- Rosa Parks School
- Rosemont High School
- Susan B. Anthony Elementary
- Sutterville Elementary
- Will C. Wood Middle School
- Woodbine Elementary
- Phoenix Park Apartments
- CLARA Academy
- Boys & Girls Club, Lemon Hill
- City Hall
- George Sims Center
- Unity Church
According to Diana Flores, the district's Nutrition Services Director, “Students will be offered a hot breakfast and lunch, with seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables from regional growers like Vierra Farms, Fully Belly Farms, and Okui Farms."
The district even has a full summer menu available on its website.
Ramirez says she also likes the fact that she doesn’t have to walk far from home to get a free meal. Einstein Middle School is "only a five minute walk, so it’s not far. Plus it gives us something to do."
To find schools open for breakfast and lunch text the word FOOD or COMIDA to 877877 or call 211 for the most updated dates and meal time information.
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