Map: Sacramento County Schools Providing Kids Free Meals During Closure

Various Sacramento County school districts are distributing free meals for kids on different days and during different time frames. Explore the map above to find specific information about the pick up site nearest to you.

During Sacramento County schools’ closure due to coronavirus, some school districts in the county are providing free meals at school sites for any child under 18 to take home and eat.

Sacramento City Unified School District is providing meals seven days a week at mobile food centers at 13 schools. It is one of 8 Sacramento County districts providing meals at school sites during the closure. 

Robla School District is also giving out free meals, though they are using a bus to distribute meals throughout neighborhoods in the district. You can find more information about their program here.

Districts have said that any child under 18 who needs food can get it at these sites, whether or not they are enrolled in a school at the district. 

Natomas Unified School District’s Diedra Powell said that at their schools, people accompanied by children can also pick up food.

“Anyone in the community that's listening, that needs food, as long as they have children, they can come as well, they do not have to be in the Natomas community or enrolled at our schools,” Powell said.

Tom Lucero is the kitchen manager at Sacramento City Unified and is handing out breakfast, lunch and a snack at Father Keith B Kenny Elementary on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

"Chex, shelf-stable milk, peaches and pears, nachos, applesauce, and sesame seeds, fresh-sliced apples and orange juice," he said while digging through the containers of food wrapped in clear plastic.

Sacramento City Unified will be providing meals every day through the end of the closure, according to the district. About two-thirds of Sacramento City Unified’s 44,000 students in the district qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, but the meals are being provided to any children, not just those who qualify for this program.

At these sites, district staff will deliver meals to a family’s car, and families are asked not to congregate at pick up sites to adhere with social distancing guidance. The meals are to be eaten at home, not at the pick up sites.

"The reality is that for most of our kids and families they really rely on our school sites to get their daily meals," said Sacramento City Unified School Board President Jessie Ryan. 

Katie Sanders is a Spanish teacher with a husband and two kids. The family walked to the school to pick up a snack. 

"There's a twofold benefit on this. I get a little help economically and the other one is the food doesn't go to waste," Sanders said.

The family says they understand the need for the school closure, “It hit home for us this morning because we found out a couple of friends died,” Sanders said, adding that her son Daniel now understands the dangers of the virus. “It hits home. That’s what he said.”