Prince George's County schools offer free summer meals to fight hunger gap

For 219,040 Maryland children who are food insecure, the end of the school year can mean losing the breakfast and lunch they can count on most. Prince George’s County Public Schools marked that gap Wednesday at Bladensburg Elementary School, 4915 Annapolis Rd. in Bladensburg, with help from the Washington Mystics and the American Dairy Association as it pushed free summer meals back into county neighborhoods.

The district said breakfast and lunch were available at schools, churches and libraries, and through Parks and Recreation sites for students enrolled in summer programs. PGCPS said its annual Summer Food Service Program would launch Monday, June 23, with free meals at 165 school sites for students in summer programs, while 16 open meal sites across Prince George’s County would begin serving children 18 and younger in July. District communications also said free summer meals would be available at school and community sites starting Monday, July 7.

Mary Kirkland, the district’s director of food and nutrition services, has said the school-year meal can sometimes be the only meal a child reliably gets during the day, which is why the county keeps food service moving after classes end. Third grader Shan Pomero described eating well as a way to support energy, growth and focus, a simple reminder of what the program is meant to protect once cafeterias close.

The logistics matter just as much as the promise. Maryland Summer Sites labels to-go locations on its map, but meals at other sites must be eaten where they are served, a rule that makes transportation, work schedules and summer activities the difference between a child getting fed and missing a meal. For families in Bladensburg and across the county, the mix of schools, churches, libraries and Parks and Recreation sites will determine which sites are practical and which ones are out of reach.

The summer rollout also sits inside a larger nutrition system. PGCPS says its Food and Nutrition Services department is dedicated to healthy nutrition habits and supporting student education, and district materials show participation in the USDA Community Eligibility Provision, with nine more schools added in a recent update. Maryland Hunger Solutions says districtwide grouping could make 100% of Prince George’s County schools eligible, while a 2023 Capital Area Food Bank hunger report said Prince George’s remained the most food-insecure county in the region, with nearly one in two households experiencing food insecurity at some point in the prior year.

At Bladensburg Elementary, the message was less about a seasonal program than about a public obligation: when school ends, the county still has to find a way to keep children fed, healthy and ready for fall.