HSD offers meals to any kids under 18 during summer
On the first day of summer school, students at Calaveras
Elementary School sat at red picnic tables under blue tarps near
the school kitchen. They laughed and talked as many of them ate
what looked a lot like a hot pocket stuffed with taco filling. They
drank juice, milk or chocolate milk. It was a typical lunch for
many of the kids
– except the meal was free.
Summer lunches just got a lot cheaper. The Hollister School
District staff are offering free lunches to all kids 18 and under
at seven sites across town.
HSD offers meals to any kids under 18 during summer
On the first day of summer school, students at Calaveras Elementary School sat at red picnic tables under blue tarps near the school kitchen. They laughed and talked as many of them ate what looked a lot like a hot pocket stuffed with taco filling. They drank juice, milk or chocolate milk. It was a typical lunch for many of the kids – except the meal was free.
Summer lunches just got a lot cheaper. The Hollister School District staff are offering free lunches to all kids 18 and under at seven sites across town.
Janet Felice, the manager of food and warehouse services for the Hollister School District, has filled out paperwork, met with district board members, and coordinated with staff to keep school kitchens open.
On the first day, 220 of the 300 students enrolled in Calaveras’ summer school program accepted the free lunch, Felice said.
“There is a need for it. When I started our percentage [of students eligible for free lunch] was 52 percent,” she said. “Now it is up to 59 percent of students who qualify. With foreclosures and food costing as much as it does we need this.”
This summer the Hollister School District food service staff will be offering free lunches to any kids under 18 for at least part of the summer. The district staff will serve lunch at five district schools as well as two apartment complexes. (See box).
Parents do not have to sign up their children for the program, or be eligible for free or reduced lunches during the school year to participate.
“Some kids or parents don’t want to fill out forms because of the negative stigma of being in a lower economic status,” Felice said.
In fact, adults can even purchase a meal themselves for $2.75, what it costs the district to pay for the food and make it.
“We get the same reimbursement rate as we do through the school district,” Felice said. “We get 85 percent federally funded and 15 percent through the state.”
The program essentially costs the district nothing.
Mary Anne Hughes, of Community Pantry, approached Felice two years ago about the program. At the time Felice wasn’t prepared to administer the program as she had just started her job and was managing through a district audit as well as complying with state laws mandating changes to nutritional value of school lunches.
This year, Felice made it a priority.
“We have to do it anyway,” she said.
Since the district is responsible for serving school lunches to summer school students, Felice chose the four summer school sites as sites for the free lunch program. Each student in summer school will get a free lunch, and after they eat, the school kitchen will open up for kids in the community to drop by.
“Having it at R.O. Hardin, Gabilan, Calaveras and Maze will make it more popular,” Hughes said. “People can walk there from their homes.”
Hughes acknowledged that at some of the schools in the district, there are as many as 80 percent of children eligible for reduced lunches.
“We staggered the lunches so those enrolled in school will eat first,” Felice said. “The others will eat on site and then they will need to leave campus.”
In addition, the free lunch program will also be offered at Sunnyslope Elementary School, where the local YMCA is coordinating the lunches. District staff will also drop off lunches at Rancho Park Apartments and Villa Luna Apartments two days a week where the Hollister Youth Alliance will distribute them.
“One requirement is that we just can’t pull up to a park where kids hang out,” Felice said. “We canvassed and we couldn’t find any more summer programs. And we couldn’t have sites closer [together] than a quarter mile.”
The fate of the program next year will rely on how successful it is this year.
“Next year, if it is successful, we can run longer than summer school,” Felice said. “We are hoping it will go well and we can continue it.”
A week’s lunches:
Grilled cheese, fruit cup, juice and white or chocolate milk
Bologna and cheese sandwhich, fruit cup, juice and white or chocolate milk
Peanut butter and jelly, fresh fruit, juice, and white or chocolate milk
Turkey and cheese sandwhich, fruit cup, juice and white or chocolate milk
Pizza, fresh fruit, juice and white or chocolate milk
Free lunch sites open Monday – Friday
June 16 – July 11 – all sites closed July 4
RO Hardin Elementary School Kitchen
881 Line Street
11:15 a.m. to noon
Gabilan Hills Elementary School Kitchen
901 Santa Ana Road
10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Calaveras Elementary School Kitchen
1151 Buena Vista Road
11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Maze Middle School Kitchen
900 Meridian St.
10:50 a.m. to 11:35 a.m.
June 6 – August 6 – Mondays and Wednesdays only
Rancho Park Apartments
1200 Rancho Dr.
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
June 17 to August 7 – Tuesdays and Thursdays only
Villa Luna Apartments
850 Hillcrest Road
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
June 16 to August 8
Sunnyslope Elementary School
1475 Memorial Drive
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
