15 schools in Pueblo will be serving free summer lunches starting next month
Pueblo School District 60 will be serving free lunches at 16 schools and 11 mobile sites as part of this year's summer lunch program, which starts June 6.
Serving free lunch during the summer, when school is out, is vital to ensuring community access to food, Pueblo D60 Director of Nutrition Services Dana Elkins Greene said.
"For some of our students, the two meals they eat at school are... the only two meals that they may get in a day," she said.
Breakfast and lunch are served to all Pueblo D60 students free of charge during the school year under the Colorado Department of Education's Community Eligibility Program. Three-quarters of students in the district, which covers the city of Pueblo, qualify for free school meals.
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Lunches offered through the Pueblo D60 summer lunch program will be free for all children 18 and under, regardless of which school they attend or which district they're in. Adults can purchase lunch for $5.
"All meals have to be eaten on-site as opposed to the last two years with COVID where people could pick up lunch and take it home," Elkins Greene said.
Free lunches will be available at Central High School, Minnequa Elementary, Park View Elementary, Irving Elementary, Cesar Chavez Academy, Dolores Huerta Preparatory High School, Pueblo Academy of Arts, Roncalli STEM Academy and Corwin International Magnet School.
Dutch Clark Digital Online at Paragon, Beulah Heights Elementary, Bessemer Elementary, East High School, Franklin Academy of Innovation, Heaton Middle School, Irving Elementary and Ersila Cruz Middle School will also be offering free lunches.
All those schools will serve lunch from 12-1 p.m., Monday through Thursday, from June 6 to July 28, with the exception of Dolores Huerta Preparatory High School, where the last day of free summer lunches will be July 14.
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Mobile lunch locations include Barkman, Lucero, Lamb and Rawlings libraries, St. Anne's Church, El Pueblo History Museum, Bradford Park, El Centro del Quinto Sol and the YMCA of Pueblo, according to the Pueblo D60 website.
Mobile sites will be open Monday through Friday until July 29. Times at mobile sites vary. A list of times for mobile sites can be viewed on the Pueblo D60 website.
Through a partnership with the Pueblo City-County Library District, Pueblo D60 also will serve free lunch at "Books in the Park" events at Ray Aguilera Park in Bessemer, and Fairmont Park.
Books in the Park will be held June 10 through Aug. 9 at Ray Aguilera Park Monday through Wednesday and at Fairmount Park, on W. 29th St., on Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Pueblo City-County Library District says on its website.
Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached by email at JBartolo@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Here are 15 schools in Pueblo that will serve free summer lunches
