Press Release #42/June 10, 2021
For the second year in a row, Dearborn Public Schools plans to continue distributing free student meals over the summer vacation.
On Thursday, June 24, the district will start its summer meal distributions. Families of students can pick up food for each of their children on Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meals will be distributed at the district’s three traditional high schools – Dearborn, Edsel Ford and Fordson. This student food distribution program will continue through August 12.
The district will also serve meals to elementary and middle school students participating in our free in-school summer programs.
Families picking up summer meals at the high school distribution sites will be offered either a three-day bag of food, if their child is attending the four-day-a-week summer program, or a seven-day bag of food for those not in the summer program.
Salina Intermediate will also distribute food on Thursdays as part of the summer meal program, but only three-day packs will be available at that location. The Salina distribution will run from 12:30 to 2 p.m. each Thursday.
Food distribution is available for any student or child under 18 years of age. No ID is required, and the student does not need to attend that building or come with the adult picking up the food.
Dearborn Public Schools starts the new school year on Aug. 30 and currently plans to have students back in school for full days every day. That means once the new school year starts most kindergarten through 12th grade students will be able to receive breakfast and lunch at school. At that time, the district will discontinue its broad weekly meal distribution program.
Dearborn Schools offers free lunch and breakfast to all its students through the Community Eligibility Provision under the National School Lunch Program.
For this school year, June 16 will be the last weekly food distribution at our 10 current locations. The last day of school is June 18. The following week, the summer meal distribution program starts, and distributions move to Thursdays at the three high school locations and Salina Intermediate.
Dearborn Public Schools began distributing free student meals just days after the pandemic forced schools to close in March 2020. Since then, the district has distributed more than 4 million free meals for students.
“We are glad to be able to provide food for our students and families, many of whom we know struggled financially even before the pandemic caused an upheaval in the economy,” said Superintendent Glenn Maleyko. “With the expected return of in-school learning next school year, we look forward to educating – and feeding – our students in our schools once again.”