The South Bay Union School District’s “Seamless Summer Program” served 16,586 lunches and 12,820 snacks to children in the South Bay Communities this past summer. Every school day, South Bay Union School District serves approximately 6,800 lunch meals, 2,600 breakfast meals and 1,270 after school snacks. Approximate 78% of their students qualify for free or reduced priced meals.

When school is out of session, children in the South Bay Community need a place to get free nutritious meals.  Every summer since 2010 they have operated a Seamless Summer Meals Program that services 14 different locations including: five San Diego Park and Recreation sites, Imperial Beach Boys and Girls Club, and Imperial Beach Skate Park to name a few. 

They established a partnership with the San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation to develop mini resource fairs that feature community members providing important information on community programs and services.  For example, SDG&E sets up a table to discuss programs that help lower energy bills for low income households. And South Bay Union School District provides a BBQ meal for the children and adults can purchase a lunch for $3.00.  

This year they also added a Domino’s Day each week to Park and Recreation Sites. Dominos provided a nutritious school approved pizza made with 100% whole grain crust.  Over the five week program their lunch participation increased by 9%.

The South Bay Union School District is proud to provide nutritious free meals to the community when school is not in session.  The School District hopes to continue their successful “Seamless Summer Program” for many summers to come.  They encourage all children in the surrounding communities to come and have lunch and a snack every week day when they are not in school at one of their 14 locations. 

With many resources available on the CDE website about how to establish a successful “Seamless Summer Program,” there are many ways to get involved including enlisting as a volunteer to help with the program.