A program called Summer BreakSpot is going to provide free breakfast and lunch to children 18 and under until school starts again. School is out for the summer, and many kids depend on meals provided at school. For many, it’s fun times ahead. For others, this is when families worry most about feeding their kids. “It happens at different levels of the economic stream, so these meals are offered to all children under the age of 18,” said Kandace (Kandy) Messenger, Lee County School District Director of Food & Nutrition. Lee County schools work to ease that anxiety. Every year, the district partners with summer BreakSpot to offer free breakfast and lunch and snacks. On the summer BreakSpot website, there’s an interactive map, where parents can find those food giveaway locations. Lee County schools expects lots kids to show up, and the district is ready. “We fed just over 200,000 meals to the students over the last summer, and we did just under 25,000 snacks to these students,” Messenger said. “I feel that it’s more important now because the struggles that families are continuing in in the recovery process because we’re not all recovered yet.” And speaking of meeting those needs. “A lot of the times when it comes to rent when it comes to paying the mortgage, when it comes to paying insurance, or fun bill, that food is not it’s not in the budget,” said Manny Vazquez, Food Distribution Coordinator, St Matthews House. St Matthews House says feeding the entire family is their mission. “We have approximately 500 families that go to each distribution,” Vazquez said. And this summer, that number could go higher. To find a site near you, visit the Summer BreakSpot website. You can also call 211 or text “food” (or “comida”) to 304-304. There will be 80 Summer BreakSpot sites in Lee County, five sites in Collier County and others in Charlotte, DeSoto and Hendry counties this summer. Some are only open on certain dates and some only offer lunch. Charlotte County also participates in the Champs On Wheels program for lunch only.