Alamance-Burlington schools offer summer meals across county

Families across Alamance County can still get hot breakfasts, lunches and snacks from Alamance-Burlington schools while classes are out, with service running through Aug. 13 and tied to summer school and summer bridge programs. The district says the meals are for students age 18 and younger and are eaten on site.

Daily meal sites are spread across the county at Boys and Girls Learning Center in Graham, Falcon Crest Residential in Mebane, Graham Parks and Recreation, Kool Kidz Place in Burlington, First United Methodist Church in Graham, Crophouse in Mebane, Fruit Tree Ministries in Burlington and Miracle Temple Church in Burlington. ABSS says daily sites do not require pre-registration, but families are asked to call 24 hours in advance so staff can prepare enough food.

For families who live farther from those locations or need a more flexible option, ABSS is also offering weekly rural grab-and-go meal bundles through the USDA non-congregate feeding model. Each bundle contains seven breakfasts and seven lunches per child, and families must complete an online sign-up. Pickup sites are scheduled for Monday at Sylvan Elementary in Snow Camp, Tuesday at Western Alamance Middle in Elon, Wednesday at Eastern Alamance High in Mebane and Thursday at Highland Elementary in Burlington.

The summer meal program sits within the federal Summer Food Service Program, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Nutrition Service oversee nationally and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction administers in the state. State officials say the meals are free to eligible children, and USDA describes non-congregate rural service as an alternate model meant to fit low-income rural communities better.

The need is clear in Alamance County. SAFE Alamance says 18.6% of county children, or 7,420 children, were food insecure in 2023, and 58.8% of public-school children were eligible for free or reduced lunch in 2019-2020. Feeding America puts North Carolina’s overall food insecurity rate at 15.0%.

ABSS has also shown the scale of its summer operation before. In 2024, the district said it served more than 100,000 meals through its summer feeding programs, including 31,976 breakfasts, 51,213 lunches and 17,791 snacks, staffed by 20 school nutrition workers. The district said in 2023 that it offered on-site meals at 25 sites across Alamance County, underscoring how the program has become one of the county’s main summer nutrition networks for children.