School may be out for the summer, but hunger never goes on vacation — especially not for the 46 percent of Healdsburg children who are eligible to receive free or reduced price lunches at school. When school ends, the scramble begins to keep these and other children nourished throughout the summer.
There are four federally funded summer nutrition programs for poor children, all operated by the USDA. Three of these — the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program and Seamless Summer — provide funds for food delivered through public school programs. The fourth — the Summer Food Service Program — also works with nonprofit organizations, like the Redwood Empire Food Bank.
This summer, the Redwood Empire Food Bank will offer free and healthy lunches to children in Sonoma County at 29 different places strategically located at parks, libraries, summer camps and low-income apartment complexes throughout the county.
These lunches are free to children, 18 years and younger, and are available Monday through Friday.
“Our goal is to make sure that every child that comes to one of our sites is served,” says Itzul Gutierrez, Children’s Program Manager at Redwood Empire Food Bank. “No questions asked, no paperwork, no ID.”
Free summer lunches for children in Healdsburg
Unlike the rest of Sonoma County, where the lunches are prepared and delivered by the food bank, in Healdsburg, the food is purchased, prepared and delivered by the Healdsburg Unified School District. The district is then reimbursed by the food bank, which in turn is reimbursed through the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program.
There are four free summer lunch sites in Healdsburg: Fitch Mountain Elementary, Healdsburg Regional Library, Alliance Medical Center and Harvest Grove Apartments, a low-income housing complex owned by Burbank Housing. Fitch Mountain Elementary will also serve free breakfasts.
“We expect to be making around 1,000 breakfasts and lunches per week,” said HUSD food services director Rosa Rubio, who plans to use produce from local farms, like Soda Rock Farms and Middletown Farm, as well as bread from Costeaux Bakery.
“I’m very interested in sourcing as much of our food locally as possible,” Rubio said. “It’s one of the things that sets our district apart.”
Here’s a quick look at what the four sites in Healdsburg are offering:
Free breakfast and lunch at Fitch Mountain Elementary
“This year is going to be different from previous years because this is the first summer that the district is not having summer school for elementary students. But it still decided to have a summer lunch site open at Fitch Mountain,” Rubio said. “Students from the preschool and day camp at Fitch Mountain will be eating lunch at that site, and it will also be open to other children in the community.”
The summer nutrition program at Fitch Mountain Elementary runs Monday through Friday, from June 11 to August 10. Breakfast will be served between 7:50 and 8:20 a.m., and lunch will be served between 11:50 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. Fitch Mountain Elementary is located at 520 Monte Vista Avenue in Healdsburg.
Free lunch at the Healdsburg Library
“We’re in our third year offering the free summer lunch program,” head librarian Jon Haupt said. “It fits in nicely with our summer reading program. Lunch is sandwiched between our morning programs and afternoon programs for children. We’ve tried to fit things in so we have just enough time between the two to set up for lunch and take down. That way families aren’t waiting around with nothing to do.”
“A lot of people come here because we’re centrally located,” Haupt said. “It’s easy to walk to the library, and a lot of people come here for the events anyway.”
This summer the library is expecting between five to 15 children for lunch each day. The summer lunch program at the Healdsburg Library runs Monday through Friday, from Monday, June 11 to July 27. Lunch will be served between 12:30 and 1 p.m. The library is located at 139 Piper Street, just north of downtown Healdsburg.
Free lunch at Alliance Medical Center
Alliance Medical Center was founded in 1971 to serve farmworkers and their families. They now serve everyone from newborns to elders, offering free and low-cost medical and dental care, as well as application assistance for state and federal programs such as Medi-Cal.
“We’re teaming up with the Redwood Empire Food Bank again this year to offer lunches from June 11 to August 19. Lunch is being served from noon to 1 p.m., and it’s first-come, first-served,” said Melissa Cook, senior health educator for Alliance Medical. “The lunch has to be eaten on-site — you can’t pick it up and take it off the premises. We’ll also be offering free books for kids, and arts and crafts.”
“We served 395 lunches last year, and we always have a pretty good turnout,” Cook said. “We try to do some health education along with the lunch service, and if a child is having a medical or dental problem, I’ll walk them down to the clinic.”
Alliance Medical Center is located at 1381 University Avenue in Healdsburg.
Free lunch at Harvest Grove Apartments
Harvest Grove Apartments is one of nine Burbank Housing complexes in Sonoma County that is offering free summer lunches to children in the community.
“We’ve been working hard to get the volunteers together and make sure that we have everything we’ll need,” said Jacob Rich, director of resident services for Burbank Housing.
The Burbank Housing sites are manned by a combination of residents and volunteers from the community. They don’t have activities planned yet, but Rich said volunteers often bring things like coloring books and other activities to keep children amused.
At Harvest Grove Apartments, the free lunch program for children will run from June 11 through August 3. Lunch will be served in the complex’s community room, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Harvest Grove Apartments is located at 293 West Grant Street in Healdsburg.
