Summer Eats Makes Kids’ and Teens’ Dreams Come True

When schools close for summer break, kids lose access to regular play-time with friends and reliable nutrition from free school meals. With kids at home, it’s on parents to entertain, stimulate, and provide meals for their kids. Even for wealthier families, the added strain of simply finding something for their kids to do is a battle. Plus, the cost of camps or activities is beyond what most families can afford. That’s where Summer Eats comes in.

Project Bread runs Summer Eats in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, taking the stress out of summer for kids and their families by providing healthy meals and exciting activities, all totally free of charge. Project Bread helps school districts and sponsors across the state to establish or grow their local Summer Eats program, and offer 1:1 guidance, resources, equipment, and materials to help them run as smoothly and safely as possible. Located in places where communities already gather – libraries, parks, or farmers markets – Summer Eats brings kids and their families together. But beyond fun in the sun, the regular nutrition and creative opportunities ensure all kids can return to the classroom recharged and ready to learn come fall.

Your generosity to Project Bread makes it possible for more families to access reliable healthy food for their kids and teens during the hot summer months. Thanks to your support last summer, kids and teens ate over 2.8 million meals at 1,452 sites across the state!

Help keep summer cool for kids and families this summer by giving generously today!

For summer of 2025, Project Bread was able to award 48 grants totaling $236k to summer meal providers from 29 school districts and 19 community-based organizations. Fifty percent of grantees added more open sites compared to last year, with eight sponsors adding new Grab & Go sites.

Triton Regional School District used their grant to expand their Summer Eats program into five communities — Rowley, Newbury, Salisbury, Byfield, and Ipswich — and offers Grab & Go meals at four sites. Last year, 7,456 breakfast and lunches were served in July and August at the two Ipswich grab and go sites. Project Bread provided Triton with a 2025 Summer Eats grant to support the transportation of meals to all sites, and to increase student engagement activities at all open sites.
 

Summer Eats helps ease the burden for families struggling with high grocery prices or limited childcare options. “It's a free, nutritious meal that makes families’ lives easier,” Miller said. “The burden of cooking, prepping, and buying groceries when they're so expensive can be quite stressful. So Summer Eats is really taking a lot of the work out of that.”

According to Andrea C. Baez, Chief Operating Officer of Boys & Girls Club of Metro North, Summer Eats is especially important today with the amount of stressors parents and caregivers face. She emphasizes the vital role these programs play during challenging times: “The motto of the Boys & Girls Club is ‘Whatever it Takes.’ And this is a summer where we are doubling down on that motto to ensure that kids are fed,” she said. “There are so many stressors in the world today, so providing free healthy meals to kids is one stressor that we can take off of a parent or caregiver’s plate.”

After finding that the convenience of Summer Eats significantly lightens their load, parents couldn’t agree more Amanda Porter, a Norwood resident and teacher in Dedham, put it simply, “Bringing my kids here for lunch takes one thing off of my plate. And kids love the food and the fun!”

Beyond feeding kids and providing free adventure all season long, Summer Eats serves as a point of connection, creating a sense of community while ensuring that families have access to essential resources.Brandi Artez, Director of Community Impact Programming, Stoneham-Wakefield Boys & Girls Club. “Nancy found out about our [Summer Eats] program and would bring her youngest child to enjoy recreation and then returned for lunch with both of her children daily. We were able to speak about the other services that the Boys & Girls Clubs offer such as scholarships and SNAP assistance. Nancy never would have come to our facilities because our physical locations are in Stoneham and Wakefield and she lives in Melrose. Thanks to Project Bread we were able to reach Nancy and many other families in similar situations.”

Meals are nutritious, fun, and seasonally inspired, often featuring local produce and kid-friendly favorites that meet USDA nutrition standards.

Some meals include sandwiches with chicken and fresh vegetables, hot chicken parmesan sandwiches, watermelon salads, and beans and corn as sides.

A parent, Kelirose Heres, whose daughter attends the Revere Public Schools site at Sonny Myers Park, shared, “Summer Eats in Revere is awesome. There's always a balanced meal and it includes fresh fruit and veggies. My daughter’s favorites are the hotdogs off the grill.”
 

“It focuses a lot on easy grab and go, kid-friendly food, but with a bit of a twist...and always has vegetables and fruit available and milk,” Miller said.

The quality of these meals make a big impact, and parents can tell the difference. A mom at the Northern Berkshire School Union site shared, “I am so grateful for the summer meal program. My picky eater is trying new foods we have never gotten him to eat at home. The choices are fresh and healthy everyday!”

But don’t just take a grown up’s word for it. Adrianna, a third grader from the Waltham Boys & Girls Club, said, “Eating lunch with my friends at the park was my favorite part of the summer and the food was delicious.”

Beyond food, many Summer Eats sites offer games, crafts, and entertainment to keep kids active and engaged. Many sites make the extra effort to create “theme weeks” or community events.