HISD and its community partners are offering a variety of resources and activities over the summer break for students and families.
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HISD offering variety of programs and activities for summer
HISD is offering a variety of fun and educational activities for the summer to help students prepare for the upcoming school year and prevent the “summer slide.”
HISD launching summer meals program with 10 curbside pickup sites
The Houston Independent School District is launching its 2021 summer meals program this week, in conjunction with the start of summer school.
As part of the summer meals program, Nutrition Services will host weekly curbside student meal pickup at 10 of the district’s highest-need campuses. The distributions will be held at the end of each week and provide students with meals for the weekend, as well as hand sanitizer and reusable masks.
Weekend meals also will be provided to students enrolled in summer school. They will receive no-cost breakfast and lunch at school each day as well as meals to take home for the weekend at the end of each week.
“As we have learned from this past year, we have an overabundance of students from food-insecure households in HISD,” Nutrition Services Officer Betti Wiggins said. “I’m grateful that we’re able to provide this program to help ensure our students continue to have access to good food through the summer.”
Campus curbside pickup locations include:
- Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technical Center, 9400 Irvington Blvd.
- Northside High School, 1101 Quitman St.
- Furr High School, 500 Mercury Drive
- Chavez High School, 8501 Howard Drive
- Milby High School, 1601 Broadway St.
- Washington High School, 4204 Yale
- Braeburn Elementary School, 5550 Pine St.
- Bonham Elementary School, 8302 Braes River Drive
- Almeda Elementary School, 14226 Almeda Road
- Jane Long Academy, 6501 Bellaire Blvd.
The first curbside pickup will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday, June 18. Students will receive two days’ worth of breakfast and lunch to eat over the weekend.
Beginning Thursday, June 24, all remaining pickups will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Thursdays to better align with the district’s summer work schedule. On Thursdays, students will receive three days’ worth of breakfast and lunch to eat over the weekend.
The program is slated to run through the end of summer school.
For more information or to find a curbside pickup location near you, visit HoustonISD.org/StudentMeals.
With cafeterias closed, Nutrition Services finds innovative ways to feed students
A group of Windswept Gardens Apartments residents made their way through the complex’s tree-lined central courtyard, which sits just a few hundred yards from the speeding cars and unending traffic of the Southwest Freeway.
Clad in face masks and carefully keeping their distance from each other, the families gathered around a blue tent where HISD’s Nutrition Services staff were handing out student summer meals in the afternoon sun.
The district has long offered a free summer meal program for students throughout the greater Houston community. In previous years, children would come to local schools to eat. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed the game, prompting Nutrition Services to look for innovative and safe ways to feed kids without a cafeteria.
Continue readingHISD streamlines food distribution programs to better serve communities in need
The Houston Independent School District is streamlining its summer food distribution programs and launching a new partnership with the Houston Food Bank to better serve families with the most need.
Nutrition Services is revamping its Curbside Summer Meals and Fresh Bus programs, consolidating distribution sites to redirect resources to the communities with the highest demand.
Continue readingHISD launches new programs to build on success of community food distribution
As the school year wraps up, the Houston Independent School District is revving up its nutrition outreach efforts with the launch of curbside summer meals for students and the Fresh Bus produce delivery program.
The programs come on the heels of the district’s successful community food distribution initiative, which ran for nine weeks following HISD’s closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coordinated by HISD in partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the program, provided nearly 7 million pounds of food to more than 160,000 families during that time.
“When everything around us was shutting down due to the pandemic, it became essential for us to be there for our students and their families,” HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said. “I’m proud of the hard work and dedication that went into this effort. Remarkably, we were able to impact so many families.”
The district is aiming to build upon that success with the launch if it’s annual and state-mandated summer meals program, which begins June 1. Families will be able to pick up packaged student meals twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays at one of 71 designated schools across the district. Families will receive several days’ worth of food per child.
HISD Meal Programs At a Glance
HISD Curbside Summer Meals
- Begins June 1
- Pick up on Mondays and Thursdays at 71 schools
- Meals are free to ages 1-18
- Proof of enrollment or birth certificate required for children not in the vehicle
- Participating schools available at HoustonISD.org/SummerMeals
- Program runs through July
- Daily delivery to rotating community locations
- Produce is free for families at 68 designated schools
- Participating schools and rotating delivery sites available at HoustonISD.org/FreshBus
Where to find free meals through Aug. 14
The HISD Summer Meals Program came to an end for the 2015 season on Friday, July 17, but families can still obtain free meals for kids through the City of Houston’s Parks and Recreation Department. Continue reading
HISD offers free meals at more than 200 schools
The Houston Independent School District is serving free breakfasts and lunches to children ages 1-18 at more than 200 schools this summer.
Children do not need to be enrolled in summer school to participate in the program, and no paperwork, registration or proof of income is required. Adults may purchase breakfast for $2 and lunch for $3.25.