Free summer meals offered at Washington Elementary

Staff report

Washington Elementary School is offering free children’s meals this summer through the USDA Summer Food Service Program.

Meals for children will be available from June 12 to July 13 on Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. There will be no meals served on Fridays or on July 4. Adult meals can be purchased for $3.50.

The USDA offers summer meal programs to children and teenagers 18 or younger nationwide, and provides a summer meal site finder on the USDA website at https://www.fns.usda.gov/summerfoodrocks.

Regionally, free meals will also be available at North Butler High School, Central Springs Middle School and the Mason City Family YMCA. Different meal sites have different operating hours, and may be open later in the summer; closing dates, hours of service and directions are available through the USDA’s site finder.

The USDA expects to serve more than 200 million free meals nationally through the Summer Food Service Program. In 2016, 73.3 percent of all meals served in the National School Lunch Program were free or reduced price meals for U.S. students, according to the USDA’s preliminary program data.