Oakland serves free meals for students over summer break at more than 20 contactless sites

Schoolchildren in Oakland may benefit from the city’s Summer Food Service Program, which is providing free breakfast and lunch during the summer school break.

The program, from Oakland’s Human Services Department, began Wednesday. Approximately 20,000 children in Oakland depend on free and reduced-cost school meals during the school year. However, most families struggle to replace those meals for their children during summer vacation.

The free meals will be made available for pickup at more than 20 sponsored youth-serving sites, including community-based organizations, Oakland Housing Authority locations and city recreation centers. Meal distribution takes place with no contact and with social distancing. Parents and guardians may pick up meals for multiple days without children present.

There are no program requirements or paperwork to complete to benefit from this program, which not only benefits children 18 years of age and under, but adults with disabilities who are enrolled in a school program.

To download a list of distribution locations, people can visit https://www.oaklandca.gov/topics/summer-food-service-program. Locations are also listed at www.oaklandca.gov/food.