Free Lunch At School Ends For Many, But Weekend Meals Continue.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Some Palm Beach County public schools are moving away from universal free meals for the 2026-2027 school year, and Boca Helping Hands wants families to know its weekend food program isn’t going anywhere. The nonprofit’s KidsPack Weekend Meal Program will keep sending free food home with kids at 15 local elementary schools, no matter what changes happen during the week.
The shift stems from schools losing their federal Community Eligibility Provision status, which had let every student eat free regardless of household income. Without it, families at those schools now have to fill out an application and meet income guidelines just to get free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch.
KidsPack works differently. There’s no paperwork and no income test — schools simply identify students who could use the help, and Boca Helping Hands sends them home each Friday with easy-to-prepare food to get through the weekend. The program has run for more than 15 years and costs the organization over $500,000 annually, money that comes entirely from donors, foundations, businesses and community partners.
“Boca Helping Hands has been a partner with local schools for more than 15 years, providing supplemental food assistance to elementary students through our KidsPack Weekend Meal Program,” said Andrew Hagen, CEO of Boca Helping Hands. “We will continue to stand with our schools and families as these changes take effect, and we hope our program can help make up for any loss of weekday school meals. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we provide weekend meals to students in 15 schools at a cost of more than half a million dollars each year.”
Hagen is also urging families to fill out the new school meal application if their child’s school requires one, calling weekday breakfast and lunch “the first line of defense against childhood hunger” and describing KidsPack as a complement to those meals rather than a replacement.
Sign up for the BocaNewsNow.com nightly newsletter and breaking news email alerts. Completely free. Unsubscribe at any time.
Follow us on Google News
Boca Helping Hands reaches more than 35,000 Palm Beach County residents each year through food assistance and workforce development programs. The organization says no child should have to choose between learning and hunger, and it plans to keep working with local schools to make sure kids have something to eat every day of the week — weekends included.
