This summer, the City of Berkeley’s Parks, Recreation & Waterfront department will provide free meals to children at four locations around the city as part of a long-running program in partnership with the California Department of Education.
The city will hand out the meals every weekday until July 31. Meals can be found at Frances Albrier Community Center, West Campus Pool, Strawberry Creek Park and MLK Youth Services Center.
Anyone under the age of 18 can grab lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and a snack from 2-3 p.m. at most locations.
At the Strawberry Creek Park location last Thursday, children playing in the park or coming from Berkeley Youth Alternatives across the street ran up to the little folding tables where a Parks, Recreation & Waterfront employee was handing out meals. The child grabbed something to eat, no questions asked.
At one point, a child from BYA ran through the street to get up to the table. “Don’t run in the street, man,” advised Recreation Lead Angelo Gilbert as he handed the child a meal of chicken nuggets, corn and a biscuit.
The day prior, Gilbert said yellow chicken curry was on the menu. The stands also provide vegetarian options.
Gilbert, who has worked the summer program for four years now, said he usually sets up his stand in the morning with between 40 and 45 meals, and he usually gives them all away.
At 12:10 p.m. that day, he handed out his last meal.
“It’s been good to just kind of help out,” Gilbert said. “I know that some people usually will pack their lunches or try to go out to eat. Especially if you have a lot of kids, it’s kind of hard to feed all those heads.”
The meals work to alleviate the needs of food insecure households across Berkeley. According to Healthy Alameda County, a local data collection organization, 12.2% of children in the county suffered from food insecurity in 2023.
According to Parks, Recreation & Waterfront Director Scott Ferris, the city has operated this program in conjunction with the state since the 1970s. The state covers most of the cost of food — which is provided by a contract with school food supplier School Foodies — and the city covers staffing.
“We have a population that has food insecurity issues and so this, having free snacks and lunches for the summer, helps fill that gap,” Ferris said. “A lot of the time during the school year that gap is filled by the school district and kids get free lunch on sites.”
In addition to the lunch program, children can also find free lunches at the Central Library throughout the summer, as well as other library programming provided by the city.
Those lunches are made available Tuesday through Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.