Starting in early June, keiki 18 and younger can head to at least 15 Big Island schools for a free breakfast and lunch.
Starting in early June, keiki 18 and younger can head to at least 15 Big Island schools for a free breakfast and lunch.
The schools are participating in Seamless Summer Option, a federally funded summer food service program that aims to help low-income children continue receiving nutritious meals once school’s out.
To qualify, at least half of a school’s regularly enrolled students must qualify for free or reduced price lunches and also must offer some type of summer program on campus. In Hawaii County, an estimated 65 percent of students qualify for free lunch, statistics show, which is higher than any other county in the state.
In other areas, including the Ka‘u-Keaau-Pahoa area complex, need is even greater. Statistics from the state Department of Education show every school in the complex has at least 75 percent of students who qualify for free or reduced meals.
At Mountain View Elementary School, where need in the complex is highest, 92 percent of students qualify.
“The community at large has a very high rate of poverty,” said Elna Gomes, principal of Keaau Middle School, one of the 15 meal sites this summer.
“So these kinds of programs, where we can offer free meals to students during the summer, are very much welcome.”
Qualifying for the free lunch program during the year means students from low-income families — defined as $51,597 for a family of four — are eligible for free or low-cost nutritious meals. Earlier this year, the DOE announced it was expanding the federal Community Eligibility Provision program — that allows schools and school districts to serve the meals even if the students do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals — to every school in the KKP complex.
Statewide, 68 public schools are participating in this year’s Seamless Summer Option food program.
Meals are open to any youth.
Most sites will serve meals Monday through Friday, excluding June 10 and July 4, and serve breakfast and lunch.
For details — including start dates — at any particular site, visit tinyurl.com/BigIslandLunches.