Many families in the Greater Houston area rely on local public schools to be their children’s primary food source during the school year, but what happens when school is out?
Once summer break rolls around the School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs – which use federal funds to provide free meals for children when they are at school – stop serving. This leaves parents looking for alternative assistance if they are unable to put food on the table, said Tommy Nguyen, WIC senior nutritionist with the Houston Health Department.
“Unfortunately, this is a big issue in Houston, just because of the living conditions in general,” Nguyen said. “The cost of living is going up with inflation, and fresh or organic foods are expensive.
Local school districts may provide free meals to make up for the months between the school year. The Summer Food Service program is another federal assistance program that provides funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for schools to do so.
The Texas Department of Agriculture administers these programs and sets nutritional and operational guidelines.
Organizations and city programs are also there to help families, which Nguyen said is a “big factor” in how these families can access food in the interim.
Houston ISD launched its Summer Meal Program in June, providing free breakfast and lunch to children between the ages of one and 18 at roughly 256 locations across the district.
Depending on the locations, the district provides services Monday through Thursday or Friday. Meals are served in the morning and afternoon; exact times can vary per school. Parents can contact the individual campus or call Nutrition Services at 713-491-5944 to find out when breakfast and lunch will be available.
Chandra Brown-Blackwell, area manager for Nutrition Services at HISD, said children can walk in and receive these meals without registering, applying, or paying a sign-in fee. The program’s locations are open for summer school and many kids are enrolled in these classes, although a child does not have to be attending summer school to receive the meals, Brown-Blackwell said.
“This is for any kid in Houston, even if they are just visiting from out of town. If they need breakfast or lunch, they can come by one of the schools serving, and we will serve them,” she said. “We want to make sure that we are serving all the kids who need it.”
They serve around 90,000 meals a day across all locations, with Rodriguez Elementary, Pilgrim Academy, Burbank Middle School and Berry Elementary the most-served schools in the program.
Brown-Blackwell said this is likely due to how densely populated those school districts are, where an average of over 300 plus meals are served daily at each of these four schools.
HISD’s summer meal program stopped serving on June 30, the last day of summer school. Select schools in the district stay open, but those are through different programs specific to those locations.
Brown-Blackwell said these programs are not open to the vast majority of students, and they are maybe three or five-day programs that do not run throughout July.
Parents looking for help once closures start in their area can turn to the Houston Food Bank or Houston Parks and Recreation Department’s summer meal programs. These services receive funds from the same federal program as HISD, providing free summer meals to children at 189 and 80 sites, respectively.
The Parks and Recreation Department’s program serves children Monday through Friday, starting at the beginning of June. It will end on August 18, when children return to school.
Belinda Enojado, senior manager of process management at the Houston Food Bank, said the organization’s summer meal locations rotate openings and closing. Some may stop serving at the end of June, while other places open at the beginning of July.
The food bank’s program expands its services to include those who are 21 years old with special circumstances, such as a disability, Enojado said.
Both programs, like HISD, are not application-based and do not require any information or pre-registration.
Serving locations are typically at community centers across the region for both programs. Other places that may want to become approved sites can apply.
The Houston Food Bank services extend outside of Harris County, with locations in 17 other counties, including Wharton, Galveston, Fort Bend and Crosby County.
Enojado said one in five children are considered food insecure in their service area, and data from the Houston Food Bank shows that 69 percent of Texans sacrifice food to pay utilities. More than 57 percent do so to pay their rent or mortgage.
“Families experiencing hardship could be families in poverty or not,” she said. “Maybe just because the cost of living has gone up or because a parent loses their job, now a family is facing food insecurity and having to choose what they spend their money on.”
Those typically affected by food insecurity are families from lower socioeconomic backgrounds with children, adults older than 65, college students, veterans and military families, Nguyen said.
Since the beginning of 2023, there have been more than 11,500 calls from residents seeking assistance with food to the 211 confidential helpline operated by United Way of Greater Houston. Of those, nearly 10,000 were for information on food pantries. The number of calls this year increased by 18.5 percent compared to last year.
These families often have to choose lower-cost meals and foods with a longer shelf life, usually processed foods or higher in salt and fat intake. Children who eat these foods are at higher risk of conditions like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, Nguyen said.
Each of these organizations has nutritional guidelines outlined by the USDA and TDA that the meals they serve must meet.
“Our children cannot learn if hungry, and they lack the proper nutrients,” Enojado said. “It is important that we are not just providing food, but healthy food that helps them grow their minds and bodies.”
Cynthia Stielow, chief of development and communications officer at Kids’ Meals – a local free meal delivery service, said that alongside the free meals provided, the company’s drivers bring additional grocery bags full of fresh produce and pantry staples to families’ homes for this reason.
This privately funded organization serves those who are under six years old that would qualify for free and reduced breakfast and lunch services but are not attending schools, she said.
The company’s delivery model allows it to tackle another significant issue in food security: having the ability to get to these schools or community centers.
“Many of our families have no vehicle or one vehicle, so if dad or mom is at work, the other parent is at home with the children without transportation,” she said.
Kid’s Meals serves 52 zip codes across the Greater Houston area and around 7,000 children a day. However, this number can increase to about 12,500 a day as they will feed siblings who are older and out of school.
Many of these organizations reported seeing a growth in the number of families needing assistance over the past few years.
“I mean, we have never fed 12,500 children before; this is our first time feeding at this level,” Stielow said. “The need is just so significant.”
Nguyen said that the Women, Infants and Children Clinics he works at across the city provide similar food-based assistance services. Every month, those who come in are “increasing and increasing.”
“There is a real importance to what these programs are doing at the national, state or local level,” Nguyen said. “Some of the adults in these families, specifically, will skip meals or serve their children smaller meals to feed them. These programs are helping our community a lot.”
Where to go for assistance:
Houston Food Bank Summer Meal Sites
Houston Parks and Recreation Department Summer Meal Sites and call 211 or 713-676-6832 and give the operator your zip code to find the site closest to you
Kids’ Meals Bilingual One-Page Application Form
WIC Locations and to see if you are eligible for their assistance, call 832-393-5427
HISD Free and Reduced Meal Program Information
Nguyen’s suggestions of more affordable but still nutritious options for families who may have tight grocery budgets:
- Proteins: Eggs, peanut butter, tuna or salmon (especially if canned)
- Carbs: Whole grains, dry rice
- Fruits and Vegetables: Frozen fruits and vegetables (lasts longer, is cheaper than fresh produce and still has nutritional value
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
