Brendan Arnold eats lunch aboard the Bites of Brookings bus in this 2019 file photo. The district's summer meal program will start in July, though meals aboard the BOB Bus won't be offered this year. | Photo: Jessica C. Andrews

Though it initially announced otherwise, the Brookings-Harbor School District will have a summer food program this year.

“Our food service director, Cindy Badger, continued to work tirelessly to pull together some sort of free summer meals programming,” Nancy Raskauskas-Coons, the district’s communications coordinator, told the Wild Rivers Outpost via email Thursday.

“We now have to unwind our earlier message, but when it looked like no program would happen, we felt it was important to let our community partners and families know ASAP so they could plan accordingly.”

On Monday through Thursday from July 8-25, Brookings-Harbor School District will offer lunch to youth ages 0-18. A to-go bag will also be provided to participants with breakfast for the following day, Raskauskas-Coons said.

Students enrolled in Extended School Year, from June 17-28, and in Kindergarten Academy, Aug. 12-16, will also receive meals, she said.

Last summer, BHSD served 707 breakfasts and 1,882 lunches from June 26 through Aug. 10, Raskauskas-Coons said.

On April 24, Badger and Superintendent Helena Chirinian had posted on the district’s website that due to declining participation and staffing challenges, there would be no free meals provided at local schools or on the Bite of Brookings Bus.

According to Raskauskas-Coons, the district wasn’t holding summer school enrichment programs and, due to construction at Brookings-Harbor High School’s field complex fewer youth sports, which prompted the initial cancellation of the summer meal program.

Other resources in the community for feeding kids this summer include the Summer EBT program, which provides $120 per child for those who qualify for a free or reduced lunch benefit during the three summer months.

There’s also the Community Kitchen at St. Timothy Episcopal Church, Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Brookings Presbyterian Church, Trinity Lutheran Church and Brookings Nazarene.

Brookings-Harbor Community Helpers Food Bank will also offer its Summer Snack Pack program Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from June 17-Aug. 30.

More information, along with menus, will be available on the BHSD website. For more information, call Cindy Badger at (541) 469-2108 extension 8 or email cindyba@brookings.k12.or.us.

SHARE →