Kids Get Free Meals All Summer

More than 31 million children participate in school meal programs every day. With summer here kids can receive free brunch.

All kids under the age of 18 can participate in the Summer Food Service Program. Every day between 10 and 20 kids receive free brunch, said Jennifer Toller, Assistant Supervisor for Child Nutrition Services for the .

During the regular school year, 85% of students at receive free or reduced lunches while overall in the Campbell Union School District 44% receive lunches.

"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 menu is breakfast-based, said Toller. Options include pancakes, muffins, egg sandwiches or breakfast burritos. There are fresh fruit, milk and yogurt available as well.

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

For lunches during the school year, “We introduced salad bars at all of our school sites, which will really help us meet our new guidelines,” said Toller. “If you just offer one choice to the kids, they won’t take it. But if you offer them lots, they’re more likely to take it.”

Even though they don’t have to start following the new regulations until July, Toller said that they are looking at different menus to fit inside the calorie guidelines and are offering different categories of fruits and vegetables.

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 13, with the exception of July 4. Meals are served at , 401 W. Hamilton Ave, Campbell. Brunch is served from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. 

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