Kids Get Free Meals All Summer

Last updated Saturday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. to reflect that all children in Mountain View get eat for free.

More than 31 million children participate in school meal programs every day. With summer here kids can receive free breakfast and lunch, starting this week.

All kids under the age of 18 can participate in the Summer Food Service Program. Almost 245 lunches were served at on Monday, the first day, according to Sophia Zalot, District Manager of Child Nutrition for the .  

"Part of the effort to make sure that kids are getting enough to eat this summer is letting people know about the summer feeding sites," said Caitlin Kerk, spokeswoman for Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

The menus are similar to what the kids receive at school, said Zalot. Options include chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, cheeseburgers or pasta for lunch and French toast or breakfast burritos for breakfast. There are fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and canned fruit available for both meals.

Zalot said the preschoolers seem to love the hummus with tortilla chips and veggies with ranch dressing as healthy snacks.

SHFB gives their partner organizations more food during the summer, half consisting of produce. Kerk explained that SHFB provides more protein-rich foods such as peanut butter and turkey dogs.

Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack created new nutrition guidelines for school lunches that will be effective for the 2012-2013 school year, according to the USDA. In addition to limiting calories through portion control, students will see changes in what they are offered:

• both fruits and vegetables every day
• increased whole grain foods
• fat-free or low-fat milk instead of higher fat options
• reduced saturated fat, trans fat and sodium foods

Even though they don’t have to start following the new regulations until July, Zalot said, "We’re following all the new guidelines."

Last summer in six weeks 8,870 students received lunches and 5,304 students received breakfasts through the summer program. Zalot said they are expecting more kids this summer since the recreation department is involved earlier this year.

Kerk said, "We want to make sure that everyone in our community that wants a meal can get a meal."

The summer feeding site is open Monday through Friday from June 18 to July 27, with the exception of July 4. Meals are served at , 1625 San Luis Ave., Mountain View. Breakfast is served from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Call the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-6-HUNGRY (1-866-648-6479) to find a summer site near you. 

Correction: It was originally published that the free meals applied to children who received free and reduced lunch. Actually, all children in Mountain View can get a free lunch.