• YMCA offers free lunches for kids in Bellefonte, other free meal locations also added by USDA

    yThe YMCA of Centre County is holding a free summer lunch program for students across the county, including those from Bellefonte Area School District. The program starts June 17 for all school-aged children. Meals will be served throughout the week from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at three locations in the Bellefonte area.

    • Beaver Farms Complex
    • Pleasant Gap Elementary School
    • Trinity United Methodist Church

    Volunteers are also needed for the program. If interested in volunteering please call Mel Curtis at 342-0889 or email him at mcurtis@ymcaocc.org.

    Free meals for children are also offered each year through the Summer Food Service Program – a program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. These free meals are nutritious and offered to children 18 years and younger during the summer when school is not in session. 

    With about 2,500 locations in Pennsylvania, this federal child nutrition program serves breakfast, lunch and/or other snacks. There are locations within the Bellefonte Area School District.

    Find a location near you

    • Call: 211 or 1.866.3HUNGRY or 1.877.8HAMBRE
    • Text: FOOD or COMIDA to 877877
    • Download: RangeAPP.org mobile app

    According to the USDA, the SFSP provided more than 1.5 million meals and snacks to children in 2018. The Summer Food Service Program is a federally-funded, state-administered program that reimburses program operators who serve free healthy meals and snacks to children and teens in low-income areas.

    Learn more, here: summer food service program

    *By Brit Milazzo, public relations director, BASD