Free summer lunches available for kids 18 and under in Albany County

Any child 18 and under can get a free lunch at Linford Elementary from June 8 through July 30, with service set for 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The meals will be served at 120 South Johnson in Laramie, giving Albany County families a predictable stop as the school year ends and summer schedules begin.

The open age range matters. By welcoming every child 18 and under, the program avoids the income screening and paperwork that can keep some families away, while giving working parents, grandparents and caregivers one less meal to stretch across a long weekday. The school-site setting also makes the lunch easy to fold into normal routines for families already passing through central Laramie.

The program fits the broader summer meal system used across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says summer meals serve children 18 and younger at no cost, and standard on-site meals do not require an application. Its Summer Meals Site Finder helps families locate approved sites and hours, and the Wyoming Department of Education says Wyoming participates in the Summer Food Service Program, also known as SUN Meals.

The lunch window extends well beyond the first days of vacation. Running Monday through Thursday from June 8 through July 30, the schedule covers much of the summer break, when families often face the biggest gap after school breakfast and lunch disappear. At Albany County School District #1, that gap is especially noticeable because the district says it provides free breakfast and lunch to all students who attend an ACSD#1 school during the 2025-2026 school year.

Linford Elementary itself serves PreK-5 students, making it a familiar neighborhood school for many Laramie families. The location at 120 South Johnson places the meal site in an easy-to-reach part of town, and the district lists the school’s phone number as (307) 721-4439.

Albany County has seen summer meal efforts before. In 2023, Feeding Laramie Valley offered free fresh healthy meals for ages 0 to 18 on weekdays at 968 North 9th Street, and an earlier Albany County School District summer lunch program also ran weekdays at Linford Elementary for children ages 5 to 18. The district’s Feed It Forward effort has also pushed for no-cost meals for students regardless of income.

This year’s lunch program keeps that local safety net visible at the moment families need it most, turning one school cafeteria into a weekday anchor for summer nutrition.