GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Hunger doesn't take a break even if students take a break from school.
That's why local area school districts are still offering free breakfast, lunch and snacks to students during the summer months.
Grand Rapids Public Schools is offering free meals to students under 18-years-old as part of the USDA-funded Summer Meals Program. The meals are available to not only GRPS students but to the entire community.
Forty locations, including MLK Park, Roosevelt Park and Grand Rapids Public School locations, will be serving the food Monday through Thursday with some pick-up days offered on Fridays as well.
"We're back to actually feeding our students hot breakfast and hot lunch in a much more traditional setting that they haven't seen in over a year and a half. So we're very excited," Grand Rapids Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services supervisor Jennifer Laninga said.
The school district says this is a great opportunity for everyone to stretch their dollars during the summer months.
"There's definitely been a bigger push for summer school and I think that going into the summer, we're going to see an increased amount of participation in our community sites and our grab-and-go sites once the community knows that the service is out here," Laninga said.
Kalamazoo Public Schools are also offering free summer meals to all children 18 and younger and person's under the age of 26 starting this week.
Holland Public Schools is also participating by offering meals to the same age group at five Holland locations including Moran Park and Holland High School.
Muskegon Public Schools is offering free meals to anyone under 18 at Muskegon High School on Wednesdays until August 18.
