Food bundles, cafeteria setting plus local parks among summer food sites
(Seguin) — Even though classrooms might be closed for the summer, most school cafeterias in the Seguin ISD remain open.
Several campuses, including the concession stand in Park West continue to serve up both breakfast and lunch meals to local children.
The meals are all part of the Seguin ISD’s annual Free Summer Food Program.
Jacob Galvan, the Seguin ISD director of Child Nutrition, says the program is designed to ensure meals for all children under the age of 18.
He says the program is for all families with children in the area.
“The USDA and TDA, that’s the Texas Department of Agriculture, school districts that provide meals throughout the school year, there are some that are able to continue that during the summer months and –
we are using the Summer Food Service Program to do that and so the intention of that is to ensure that the children in the community have access to the same nutritional meals that they are used to during the school year throughout the summer. It really helps to bridge the gap for those families that rely on school meals during the academic year and so we are able to continue bringing free breakfast and lunch throughout the summer months and we definitely encourage folks that haven’t participated before during the summer. One of our more popular sites and easy to access rotations is in Park West and we provide lunch there Monday through Thursday,” said Galvan.
He says the program not only is there to help those in need but serves as a convenience for those parents who are balancing summer and work or who simply want an easy way to grab a meal in between those busy summer activities with their kids.
“There is definitely an efficiency that we have that if you come to one of our sites and you are in a rush, you will come straight to the line. You are not going to have to wait. Everything is going to be ready within seconds and that’s to the effect that we are still putting out quality foods because that is the way our program usually runs is by that efficiency and convenience and so that’s the reason too where I know sometimes going into the high school parking lot, you’ve got to walk and all that but if you are able to come out to a site like Park West, you park and walk maybe a hundred or so feet and you can grab a nice hot lunch right then and there with little effort required,” said Galvan.
Galvan says his team this year has also added Grab and Go Bundles over at McQueeney Elementary School.
He says this is a great option for families who don’t have the time to stop by a local campus for a sit-down meal.
“A new endeavor that we have this year that the USDA is allowing districts to implement if they meet the qualifications is they are bringing back what we call the non-congregate meal service which is more famously known as curbside meals which is something that we did during the pandemic months and so we are able to bring that back again this year and we are doing that at McQueeney Elementary and we are providing multi day meal bundles for parents to bring their kids with them and drive up curbside through the McQueeney Elementary School bus loop and then on Monday, you can get a three day bundle for breakfast and lunch for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then on Thursdays from 11 to 1 p.m., you can come by and pick up a four day bundle for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So, we are hoping that with these different types of sites, you can come by to locations such as Park West and get a nice hot lunch or if it is more convenient for families to grab a bundle of meals at one time, then we are able to provide that at McQueeney Elementary this year,” said Galvan.
Breakfast and lunch menus plus times and dates vary at each location so families are encouraged to check out the available schedule found on the Seguin ISD website or Seguin ISD Facebook page. Galvan says, more importantly, there’s no sign-in or paperwork required.
“So at all of our summer locations, which we have the full list on our Seguin ISD menu web page under our Child Nutrition Department, for all of our locations during the summer months, any child from Seguin or another state or another country, anybody 18 and under can get a free meal and then any adult they can get a breakfast for $2.75 or they can get a lunch for $4.75 and so, I know with inflation and with prices going up everywhere, I think that you will find that our meals are a great value, a great quality and you can feed the whole family – you can feed two kids for free and mom and dad for less than $10 bucks at one of our locations and I think that this can be a real benefit for families that are able to come out to our site and take advantage of that,” said Galvan.
Participating schools and locations include Rodriguez Elementary, Seguin High School, the Irma Lewis Outdoor Learning Center, Vogel Elementary School, Ball Early Childhood Center, Starcke Park East, Park West, and McQueeney Elementary School.
The summer food program runs through Aug. 1. The program will shut down one week to allow its employees a summer vacation from July 1-5.