SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Public Schools will offer free meals throughout the city this summer. The school district offered additional details for families on Monday.
Any Spokane public school offering academic programming this summer will also offer free meals to students. Any child in the school district under 18-years-old will be eligible regardless of income level.
Last summer approximately 1,500 to 1,800 meals were offered daily across Spokane according to the district.
The federal government also offers nutritional resources for children through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service program.
According to data collected by Feeding America, the child food insecurity rate was 17.2% throughout Spokane County in 2020. On a national level, 8.8% of families faced food insecurity for both parents and children in 2022 according to the USDA.
Save the Children, an advocacy organization which focuses on youth issues, estimates that 1 in 6 American children struggles with hunger. Additional information on childhood nutrition advocacy can be found here.
A complete list of meal sites and schedules will be sent to parents in late May and will be posted to the front doors of local schools.
