Buncombe County Schools expands summer meals with pickups and bus stops
Buncombe County Schools will serve free summer meals at six campuses, plus Monday pickups and bus stops, reaching children 18 and younger with up to 88 meals per child.
Free breakfasts and lunches are back on Buncombe County Schools campuses, but the district is also taking food beyond school walls so families without steady transportation can still reach it. The summer plan combines on-site meals, weekly grab-and-go pickups and mobile lunch stops, all aimed at bridging the summer gap while school is out.
On-site service will run Monday through Friday from June 12 through Aug. 14 at A.C. Reynolds High School, Community High School, Hominy Valley Elementary School, North Windy Ridge Intermediate School, Erwin High School and Koontz Intermediate School. Breakfast will be served from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., followed by lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The district says the program is open to anyone 18 and younger, but meals must be eaten at congregate meal sites. There will be no meal service July 3.
Families that cannot make daily trips can use weekly take-home meal pickups from June 22 through Aug. 10 at Barnardsville Elementary School, Leicester Elementary School and Pisgah Elementary School. Those pickups will be available each Monday from 10 a.m. to noon, but children must be present and registration is required. For parents juggling work shifts, childcare and gas costs, that timing makes the difference between using the program and missing it.
The district’s Rolling to Feed Bus will also make lunch stops at housing communities across Buncombe County, bringing meals closer to neighborhoods where access can be harder. Buncombe County Schools says the program works in partnership with the YMCA, Asheville Parks & Recreation campers and the Buncombe Partnership for Children, widening the safety net beyond a single school site.
Buncombe County Schools says the effort is meant to “bridge the gap” and keep kids “healthy and strong every day.” School Nutrition Supervisor Brian Hinch said, “No child should be hungry in our community.” For a family with one child, the on-site schedule alone can cover 44 days of breakfast and lunch, or 88 meals, a practical way to blunt summer grocery bills while school cafeterias are closed.
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