BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Starting Wednesday, Brevard County families were able to take advantage of free summer meals at numerous school distribution sites.
What You Need To Know
- Brevard County families were able to pick up 7-day meal kits starting Monday
- The free summer meals are being distributed weekly from 11 schools in the county
- More: Information on Brevard County summer food distribution sites
- How to register for summer meal kits
It was a steady stream of families driving up at Sherwood Elementary in Melbourne this morning, one of 11 schools offering food packages.
Each one contains seven breakfast and seven lunch meals and will be distributed at the schools from 9-11 a.m. every Wednesday through July 28.
"I have a teenage boy who eats me out of house and home, so this has just been wonderful," Nicolette Brown said.
With school out for summer, free meals are a welcome sight for parents like Brown struggling to make ends meet as the pandemic wears on.
"It's been a blessing to have this food, we did it last summer as well," she said.
The food is being handed out to children 18 and younger, but parents must pre-register for the meals.
"You can come by and get food for your family, and for those in need, it's really going to help out," says Matt Susin, Brevard Public Schools District Four.
So far nearly 1,800 parents have registered for meals.
A grand total of almost 25,000 7-day meal kits were given out Wednesday.
Susin says the team of school cafeteria workers got plenty of practice last summer with kids out of school due to the pandemic.
"There was no COVID money coming in, no CARES act funding, and we had to feed our people, and the response was overwhelming," he said.
Brown said not only are they getting help, they are getting what her kids enjoy.
"Everything they get is what they want, so there's nothing that goes to waste," she said.