You don’t need to fill out an application. You don’t need to be enrolled in summer school. You don’t need to bring a parent or guardian along.
If you’re 18 or younger, you’re eligible for Summer Meals, the Department of Education program that ends on Friday, August 28. Summer Meals is 100 percent free; the 2009 program started two months ago.
There are pancakes and scrambled eggs, yogurt and tacos, barbeque chicken and pizza, carrots and vegetable stew. The dishes are low in fat and low in sodium.
There are no artificial colors or sweeteners. Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. visited P.S. 11 to observe Summer Meals in action on Wednesday, August 5. P.S. 11, in Highbridge on Ogden Avenue, is one of 125 schools and parks to host Summer Meals in the Bronx.
Diaz Jr. reminded Highbridge parents to take advantage of the nutritious program.
“Summer Meals is a great help to families struggling to offer healthy food to their kids during the vacation months,” he said.
P.S. 11 regularly sees more than 600 people for lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. – 250 elementary-aged students and 250 teenaged students plus Highbridge residents. It also serves breakfast from 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Late lunch is available at the Crotona Park Swimming Pool from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. When the 2000 census was conducted, 95 percent of residents in the census tract that includes P.S. 11 were listed as in poverty.
Children need not eat at the Summer Meals site closest to where they live; any child can eat at any Summer Meals site.
The program is administered by the same DOE division that administers school breakfast and school lunch.
To find the Summer Meals site closest to you, visit the DOE online or phone 311.
In addition to school sites, check out the Africa Redemption Alliance on College Avenue, Claremont Swimming Pool, the Crotona Park Junior Ranger Day Camp, Mullaly Playground and Swimming Pool, NYCHA-Clay Avenue, NYCHA-Finlay Avenue, NYCHA-Highbridge, NYCHA-Morris Houses and NYCHA-Sedgwick.
