Caption: Deer Park Gazette Archive 2022 – Deer Park School District staff members at the middle school ready to give kids and teens free lunches. Photo By Deer Park Gazette

As summer begins, Deer Park and Riverside School Districts launch SUN Meals, offering free meals to kids 18 and under with convenient to-go options to families. Returning to the Deer Park Middle School location for its community lunch, this program ensures no child goes hungry while school is out.

With school out for the summer, Deer Park and Riverside School Districts have launched the SUN Meals program to ensure children continue receiving nutritious meals. SUN Meals, available to kids 18 and under, provides free breakfast and lunch at schools, parks, and other community locations. In addition, Deer Park School District and Riverside School District will run the new SUN Meals To-Go program, which offers a convenient pick-up option for families in rural areas and is designed to ensure that no child goes hungry during the summer months.

The SUN Meals program is the rebranding name of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Summer Food Service Program. It is federally funded and state-administered, adhering to USDA-established rules. These rules apply uniformly across all partnering organizations and are not specific to any local entity.

In our area, the Deer Park & Riverside School Districts along with the Spokane County Library District, are collaborating as partner organizations to provide meals. Kids do not need to be part of either the Deer Park or Riverside School District or the Spokane County Library District to participate. The SUN Meals program operates with specific schedules at different locations. Children can pick up the food without parents; however, depending on the area, there are also rules for parents and guardians to pick up without children. Childcare workers may not pick up meals for their customers.

Deer Park

Deer Park School District will have separate times and locations during summer school, including a Community Lunch time. After summer school gets out, there will only be one Community lunch location and time. This year, they have moved back to the Deer Park Middle School for its Community Lunch pick-up location. It’s important to know that Deer Park School District will have no meal service on June 19th, July 3rd, or 4th. Last year, due to a lack of participation from the community, the Deer Park Community Lunch ended early. To read more, you can go to News.dpgazette.com/2023/08/free-kids-summer-lunch-program-ended-early/.

Riverside

Riverside School District will provide a streamlined distribution system with multi-day food packs available for pick-up on Mondays and Thursdays, starting June 17th. Parents or guardians can pick up the meals by signing a one-time waiver, affirming the children are in their care. Riverside will not serve meals on June 19th and July 4th.

The USDA emphasizes the importance of children’s access to healthy food during the summer. With nearly 30 million children relying on school meals during the academic year, programs like SUN Meals support families and foster community health.

Below is a list of sites where children can receive free food. 

Deer Park School District 

Spokane County Library District

Riverside School District 

People can find site locations and more information on summer meals for kids through the USDA Summer Food Service Program at: 

• Online: Summerfood.usda.gov