La Grande schools offer free summer meals at five pickup sites
Families can pick up free breakfast and lunch for children ages 1 to 18 at five La Grande sites, Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with no paperwork required.
La Grande School District rolled out free summer meals for children ages 1 through 18, with grab-and-go breakfast and lunch offered every weekday at five pickup sites across town. Families did not need paperwork, and the pickup window ran from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The meals were available at Candy Cane Park, Pioneer Park, Central Elementary, Greenwood Elementary and Island City Elementary. That spread put service within reach of more parts of La Grande and Island City instead of concentrating it at a single location, a practical detail for households trying to juggle work shifts, childcare and summer transportation.
District summer-food materials said La Grande School District Food Service was gearing up for another summer of free meals for children, and the district already provides breakfast and lunch free to all students during the school year through the Community Eligibility Provision. The summer service extends that approach into the months when school is out and children still need a dependable midday meal.
The program sits within the district’s Summer Food Service Program, which is designed to keep children fed when the school calendar ends. The Oregon Department of Education says summer meal programs help bridge the gap when school-year free and reduced-price meals are unavailable during summer break, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture says every child age 18 and under can receive no-cost summer meals at approved sites.
For Union County families, the value is immediate. A weekday pickup of breakfast and lunch can lower grocery bills and take some pressure off caregivers who otherwise would need to build a daily meal plan from scratch once classes end. The district’s five-site setup also makes the service easier to use for families without reliable transportation, since meals are spread across neighborhoods and not tied to one central campus.
La Grande’s effort also fits a larger statewide network. In 2025, Oregon had nearly 700 summer meal sites participating statewide, with meals served at schools, libraries, parks and community centers. In La Grande, the district’s program turned that larger safety net into something local families could reach on a school-day schedule, with five familiar pickup points serving children all summer.
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