Hollister School District to run program at six locations
Local kids under 18 can get a free lunch for most of the summer
through the Hollister School District’s Seamless Summer Feeding
option. Kids don’t have to be registered in summer school or even a
resident of the district to get the free lunch. And parents don’t
have to fill out the paperwork usually required for free or reduced
lunches at local schools.
Hollister School District to run program at six locations
Local kids under 18 can get a free lunch for most of the summer through the Hollister School District’s Seamless Summer Feeding option. Kids don’t have to be registered in summer school or even a resident of the district to get the free lunch. And parents don’t have to fill out the paperwork usually required for free or reduced lunches at local schools.
“We are starting our fourth year,” said Janet Felice, the manager of food and warehouse services. “The school has to have 50 percent free or reduced (students) to qualify and we only have one school that doesn’t qualify.”
This year the free lunches will be served at R.O. Hardin Elementary School, Sunnyslope Elementary School and Ladd Lane Elementary School Kitchen. Breakfast will be served at the middle school locations, Maze Middle School Kitchen, Rancho Middle School Kitchen and Calaveras School Kitchen (see times and locations on B2.)
“It’s a wonderful thing,” said Gary McIntire, the Hollister School District superintendent. “It looks to provide meals to needy (students) throughout the summer. They put out high-quality meals.”
Mary Anne Hughes, the executive director of the Community Food Bank, agreed that the program fills an important gap.
“It terrifies me. I know they are not eating if they don’t have something like that,” Hughes said. “Maybe it’s not helping all the kids – where it’s located they can’t get to everybody – but I think it’s helping a lot of them.”
Felice said the locations were based on the sites with summer school this year, plus Sunnyslope School, which houses the YMCA summer day camp program and is within walking distance of the Si, Se Puede! Learning Center.
In the fourth year of the program, Felice is trying to increase awareness of it. Though the number of kids partaking in the program has increased, it has been a challenge to get students who aren’t enrolled in summer school to come out for lunch.
“It’s free food, but it can be a timing issue,” she said. “I can’t have it open for two to three hours. They have to get in in that half hour to 45 minutes and it doesn’t always work for people.”
The summer lunch menu includes pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, bean and cheese burritos and more, served with fruit and juice. The breakfast menu includes a bagel and cream cheese, muffin, pan dulce and more, served with fruit, juice and milk. The meals have to be eaten on site. Adults can purchase meals for $2.75.
Felice said in the first few days of the program, it can be a challenge to estimate how many meals need to be cooked.
“By the end of the program it’s pretty consistent,” she said.
The summer lunches and breakfasts are reimbursed through the federal lunch program, and Felice said there is just one claim involved. They count up the number of meals and send that number in for reimbursement. The summer program saves time because all students are eligible so the teachers and cafeteria staff do not have to verify a student’s eligibility for it.
In the past, the lunch program has run at two to three sites. This year, the program is serving six schools because there are middle school programs at three different sites. Felice explained that though the middle school summer school programs are small, the district didn’t want to pay the cost of busing students to a central school.
Sunnyslope is the only school without a district-run summer school program, but Felice said it houses the YMCA summer day program.
“I always like to include Sunnyslope because I have a captive audience of 60 to 80 kids,” she said.
Free breakfast and lunch programs
The Hollister School District is offering free breakfast and lunch throughout the summer to any child 18 years and younger. Students don’t have to be enrolled in summer school or have paperwork filed for the free or reduced lunch program for the summer session. The programs run Monday through Friday, during the dates listed.
Breakfast program
June 13-30
Maze Middle School Kitchen, 900 Meridian St.
7:45 to 8:30 a.m.
Rancho Middle School Kitchen, 1201 Rancho Dr.
7:45 to 8:30 a.m.
Calaveras School Kitchen, 1151 Buena Vista Rd.
8:15 to 9 a.m.
Lunch program
June 13-Aug. 2 (closed July 4)
RO Hardin Elementary School Kitchen, 881 Line St.
11:15 to 11:45 a.m.
June 13-July 29 (closed July 4)
Sunnyslope Elementary School, 1475 Memorial Dr.
11:30 to 12:30 p.m.
June 27-July 29 (closed July 4)
Ladd Lane Elementary School Kitchen, 161 Ladd Lane
10:15 to 11 a.m.
