BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 As summer break begins, many children lose access to the meals they depend on during the school year. In Kern County, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County is working to fill that gap by offering free meals to children and teens throughout the summer.<\/p>\n
Through the organization\u2019s Summer Meal Program, free meals are available to any child 18 years old or younger while school is out. Barry Hill of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County said the goal is to make sure kids do not go hungry during the summer months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen summer is out, we really beleive kids really shouldn\u2019t be hungry and worrying about their next meal,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n
Hill said the program is designed to be easy for families to use. Children do not have to come from low-income families to participate, and there is no paperwork, registration or income requirement. Kids can show up at one of 10 meal sites operating across Kern County. Meals are served Monday through Friday, except on holidays.<\/p>\n
Some rural locations also offer grab-and-go options. \u201cRural areas, like Arvin, Lamont, and Wasco, they have a grab and go, so they don\u2019t even have to stay because we understand it getting a little warmer, and it gets warm during the summertime,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n
Ten days into the program, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County had already served more than 16,000 meals, averaging about 1,600 meals each day.<\/p>\n
Hill said nutrition is key for children during the summer. \u201cNutrition just plays a critical role in our kids\u2019 success,\u201d he said. \u201cBut also having nutritious meals enables them to, you know, stay active, have fun. All the good things that summer should be memorable about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program is intended to help bridge the gap for children who are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity when school is not in session. New this year are grab-and-go opportunities at a few rural sites, where lunch will also include breakfast for the following day.<\/p>\n
Meal sites and schedules listed by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County include:<\/p>\n
Armstrong Youth Center, 801 Niles Street, Bakersfield, CA 93305: Breakfast from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and lunch from noon to 1 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 8\/11\/2026.Stockdale Club, 5207 Young Street, Ste. 200, Bakersfield, CA 93311: Breakfast from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and lunch from noon to 1 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 8\/11\/2026.Suburu Elementary School, 7315 Harris Road, Bakersfield, CA 93313: Breakfast from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and lunch from noon to 1 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 8\/11\/2026.Pioneer Village Estates, 600 Fairfax Road, Bakersfield, CA 93306: Lunch from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 8\/11\/2026.Pond Elementary, 29585 Pond Road, Wasco, CA 93280: Supper from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., 6\/8\/2026 to 6\/26\/2026.Riverview Southern Baptist Church, 410 Beardsley Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93308: Lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 8\/11\/2026.<\/p>\n
Grab-and-go sites:<\/p>\n
Arvin Children\u2019s Center, 800 Walnut Drive, Arvin, CA 93203: Breakfast and lunch from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5\/29\/2026 to 8\/5\/2026.David Head Center, 10300 San Diego Street, Lamont, CA 93241: Breakfast and lunch from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 7\/21\/2026.Lamont Club, 8301 Segrue Road, Lamont, CA 93241: Breakfast and lunch from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 7\/21\/2026.Wasco PAL, 1276 Birch Avenue, Wasco, CA 93280: Supper from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., 6\/1\/2026 to 8\/11\/2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 As summer break begins, many children lose access to the meals they depend on during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-359810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}