PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Summertime may mean fun and sun for some, but for others it's 10 weeks where families struggle to feed their children without school.
Luckily, in Palm Beach County, there is a summer food service program.
At Binks Forest Elementary School in Wellington, students pack the cafeteria for lunch. What you don't see is all the prep work that goes into feeding our students in Palm Beach County.
"Makes you feel good to know that you are feeding a child and they are not going hungry or starving," said Michelle Dolci, the cafeteria manager at Binks Forest Elementary School.
It's a surprise to some, but school is where a lot of students get the majority of their nutrition -- three meals a day.
"Palm Beach County nationally is very well known for our wealth," said Allison Monbleau, director of school food services at Palm Beach County schools. "But there is really a dichotomy there, so we have the really, really wealthy, and we have the really, really poor too that really need our help."
The school district works hard to change that. This summer, they'll offer free breakfast and lunch. Last year, they served 790,000 meals over the summer.
"We have lots of hungry kids in Palm Beach County. during the regular school year. We feed them and during the summer they go home, so many of them are not getting food and they are still hungry," said Monbleau. "Summer doesn't mean that hunger goes away."
Whether you partake or not, it's an important program to know about.
"I think that's amazing cause the kids that are starving and they don't have enough money they can just get it free and that's amazing," said Dominick Christopher Diaz, a student. "It's like the Avengers!"
To find out where to get your children free summer meals, you can dial 211 or you can text "FoodFL" to 877-877.
You can also find more information on meals during summer break at SummerBreakSpot.org.
The sites below will be participating in summer food service programs in Martin and St. Lucie counties:
MARTIN COUNTY:
ST. LUCIE COUNTY:
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
