Free summer meals program for SF children celebrates 20th anniversary

Sites in every San Francisco neighborhood will serve free lunches and snacks to anyone under age 18 from May 30 through Aug. 18, and five targeted sites will offer nutrition education and free meals to families

by Emily Davis

San Francisco – This summer the San Francisco Free Summer Lunch Program will celebrate its second decade of serving free, healthy lunches and snacks to San Francisco children and youth during the months that school is not in session.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered locally by the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF), 60 sites in every San Francisco neighborhood will offer free lunches and afternoon snacks to children and youth age 18 and under every Monday through Friday from May 30 to Aug. 18. No proof of need, registration or identification is required in order to receive a lunch or snack. The only requirement: Arrive at a designated site during the site’s serving time.

This year DCYF will collaborate with two other vendors that supply free summer lunches and snacks to children and youth, increasing the total number of free lunch and snack sites throughout the city to over 100. San Francisco’s Free Summer Lunch Program sites expect to serve over 13,000 children and youth every weekday and will serve more than 170,000 free meals this summer.

This summer the San Francisco Free Summer Lunch Program will celebrate its second decade of serving free, healthy lunches and snacks to San Francisco children and youth during the months that school is not in session.

In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the San Francisco Free Summer Lunch Program, DCYF will pilot Summer of Sharing, a free family meal and nutrition education program. Summer of Sharing, which is supported by the San Francisco General Fund, will offer free meals to parents and caregivers who join their children at five San Francisco Public Library and public housing-based lunch sites.

DCYF will partner with Leah’s Pantry, a nutrition education nonprofit, to provide a free, weekly nutrition education program that will teach Summer of Sharing participants strategies for making healthy choices, ways to enhance interaction with children at mealtime, how to prepare healthy and easy recipes, and how to access nutrition and health resources for their families.

Summer of Sharing, which is supported by the San Francisco General Fund, will offer free meals to parents and caregivers who join their children at five San Francisco Public Library and public housing-based lunch sites.

A complete list of program sites, addresses and serving times is available on the home page of the DCYF website: www.dcyf.org. Families can also find lunch and snack sites on the Our Children Our Families Activity Guide website and by calling the San Francisco Services Call Center at 3-1-1 or the United Way Helplink line at 2-1-1. Brochures that list the Free Summer Lunch Program sites have been translated into Spanish, Chinese and Filipino and are available on the DCYF website and at the DCYF office. Over 35,000 Free Summer Lunch Program brochures have been distributed to the San Francisco Unified School District and CalFresh offices.

Emily Davis, public information officer for the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF), can be reached at [email protected].