A pizza pull-apart bread, strawberries, watermelon and chocolate milk were some of the summertime lunch options last week at Bowling Green Chacon Academy in South Sacramento.

Five years ago, California became the first state to launch a statewide universal meals program. The change required public schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. Sacramento City Unified School District extends that support when students are no longer on campus every day.

The summer meal program provides free breakfast and lunch for children 18 and under at more than 50 campus locations during the summer break. Children who want free food don’t even need to be district students; they will feed any child, no questions asked.

The district serves about 30,000 meals a day during the school year, dropping to about 4,500 a day during the summer. Yolanda Marculescu, a lead chef for the district, said she knows firsthand how much the program can help families save money. Read more…