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Spring break meal distribution for students
Matthew McClellan reports
TAMPA, Fla. - As spring break sends tens of thousands of Tampa Bay-area students home from school, officials are working overtime this year to make sure children are not forced to take a break from nutrition.
Families are expected to line up to receive free meals on Thursday morning beginning at 7:30 at Tampa's SILO Event Center.
"It's been a year since we started these grab-and-go food sites due to COVID," a Hillsborough County Public Schools spokesperson said in an email to FOX 13 News, "and we've distributed 8,370,239 meals since then!"
HCPS has announced that it will be providing spring break meal boxes to any student 18 and under, or 21 years and younger for students with special needs.
The boxes will be available for pick up at select locations today, March 11. From 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., families can pick up boxes at the SILO event center located at 9036 Brittany Way in Tampa.
In addition, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., families can pick up boxes at 32 school sites listed below:
- Armwood HS
- Blake HS
- Bloomingdale HS
- Brandon HS
- Chamberlain HS
- Durant HS
- East Bay HS
- Freedom HS
- Gaither HS
- Hillsborough HS
- Jefferson HS
- King HS
- Lennard HS
- Leto HS
- Middleton HS
- Newsome HS
- Plant City HS
- Plant HS
- Riverview HS
- Robinson HS
- Spoto HS
- Steinbrenner HS
- Strawberry Crest HS
- Sumner HS
- Wharton HS
- Kenly ES
- McDonald ES
- Giunta MS
- Pizzo K-8
- Shaw ES
- Sulphur Springs K-8
- Mango ES
The boxes will contain 6 days of breakfasts and lunches and include items such as a loaf of bread, peanut butter, canned tuna, chicken links, canned sliced fruit, mashed potatoes, cereal bowls, graham crackers, pretzels, juice boxes, and milk. Each student gets their own box.
Organizers are asking that parents write their student's ID number on a piece of paper and hold it up to their car window upon pickup to ensure safe and efficient distribution. For more information, visit Hillsboroughschools.org/sns.
Hillsborough County is far from the only district working to ensure that students don't go hungry. In Sarasota County, meal distribution launches on Friday, March 12 at six separate locations including Atwater Elementary School, North Port High, Garden Elementary, Fruitville Elementary, Wilkinson Elementary and Booker High. Pickup is available from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information, click here.
In Manatee County, the district is taking out its mobile-feeding buses to provide free meals for kids 18 and younger from Monday, March 15 through Friday, March 19. It's one lunch and one snack per day. All students in the district can participate.
Additional details can be found here.
In Pinellas County, the district's meal distribution will launch on Thursday, March 18 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at 12 school sites.
Head over to the school district website for more information.
Over in Polk County, they're distributing food packages on Wednesday, March 17 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. but signup is now closed.
Additional information can be found on the school district's website.