Aztec schools announce free summer meals for children through Aug. 7

Aztec Municipal School District is again putting food on the table for local children while school is out, with free summer meals available for anyone 18 and under through Aug. 7.

The district said meals were served Monday through Friday and that no service was offered July 4. A local schedule showed three Aztec Municipal Schools sites were participating, with breakfast from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., giving families two predictable windows each weekday to pick up food.

The program matters in a county where school meals often carry a big share of a child’s daily nutrition. Aztec Municipal School District said all of its schools, including Mosaic Academy, were participating in the Community Eligibility Provision for the 2025-2026 school year, which allows enrolled students to receive free breakfast and lunch during the school year without meal applications. Summer service extends that support beyond the classroom calendar.

The need is real across San Juan County and the state. New Mexico health data showed more than 350,000 people, including over 100,000 children, were food insecure in 2023. Feeding America estimated New Mexico’s child food insecurity rate at 23.3% that year, while a New Mexico Voices for Children factsheet put San Juan County’s child food insecurity rate at 22% in July 2024. In a region where grocery prices can strain working households, free school meals can help fill the gap when students are home all day.

The district’s announcement also underscored the practical barriers summer meal programs are built to reduce: transportation, timing and stigma. By serving meals at school sites and asking families to spread the word, Aztec schools tried to make the program easy to find and simple to use. USDA says summer meals can be offered at schools, parks and other neighborhood locations for children 18 and under, and New Mexico’s Summer Food Service Program provides free, nutritious meals to children and youth ages 1 to 18.

For families in Aztec, Bloomfield, Kirtland and Farmington, the message was straightforward: meals were available, they were free, and they were designed to keep children fed through the summer stretch until classes resume.