All Salem Kids Eat Free This Summer

SALEM, Mass. – In Salem, Salem Public Schools is bringing good food and family fun this summer to meal sites across town. Salem Public Schools offers free meals for any child or teen 18 and younger as part of Summer Eats, a statewide free meal program. This summer, Salem will operate a total of 22 open and closed meal sites offering breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Free meals will be available to all kids and teens ages 0–18 at 10 open site locations, including both food truck stops and stationary sites—no registration or ID required.

At four of these locations, kids can also enjoy free, fun activities led by our Salem High School Summer Open Activities team during meal service hours.
Salem is also excited to host a Summer Eats Kick-Off Event at Mary Jane Lee Park on Tuesday, June 24th from 4:00–6:00 PM. This event will include:

• Free meals for kids, teens and families from Salem Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services
• Fun activities and games hosted by local organizations including The Salem Pantry, UMass extension, Salem Public Library, Northshore Community development coalition and more.
• Tables and activities hosted by the Summer Eats student activities helpers.

Locally, there are 10 meal sites:
Food Truck Stops open daily Monday – Friday:

• Loring Towers - 1000 Loring Ave - 11:00 AM -11:30 AM
• Salem Public Library - 370 Essex St - 1:40 PM -2:00 PM
• Forest River Pool - 32 Clifton Ave Lunch: 12:20 PM -12:50 PM
• Rainbow Terrace - Off Loring Ave Lunch: 11:40 PM -12:10 PM
• Winter Island - 60 Winter Island Rd - Lunch:2:10 PM -2:30 PM
• Salem Heights - 12 Pope Street - Lunch: 1:00 PM -1:30 PM

Park locations with meals and free activities for kids open daily Monday – Friday:

• Palmers Cove - 38 Leavitt Street: 11:00 AM -12:45 PM
• Salem Commons - North Washington Square - 11:00 AM -12:45 PM
• Collins Cove - 32 Collins Street 11:00 AM -12:45 PM
• Mary Jane Lee Park - 41 Palmer St - 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Summer Eats assists families by providing free meals to children and teens to ensure they continue growing, learning, and thriving over summer break. Participating meal providers, like Salem Public Schools, operate and staff meal sites, often in conjunction with activities and educational programming. Kids and teens are required to eat onsite at most Summer Eats sites. Grab & Go meals are available in select rural communities. All are welcome. No registration or ID is required. In 2024, more than 2.8 million meals were served across over 1,450 sites statewide through the Summer Eats program. Another summer food resource is SUN Bucks (Summer EBT), which is a federal food benefit providing additional funding for groceries for low-income families with school-aged children.

For more than 20 years, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and statewide food security nonprofit Project Bread have partnered to support meal providers in offering Summer Eats meals to children in Massachusetts. Throughout the school year, the nonprofit and DESE also partner to expand access to and participation in school meal programs. This year, Project Bread has granted a total of $236,482 to Summer Eats sponsors statewide for their program development and capacity-building, such as equipment to transport meals or increase kitchen efficiency and meal quality, as well as staffing support and items to enhance site engagement, outreach and promotion efforts.

“The Summer Eats program is a vital investment in our children’s futures, making sure they have access to nutritious, delicious food at no cost to their families, even when schools are out,” says Erin McAleer, President & CEO of Project Bread, Massachusetts’ leading food security organization. “Summer Eats meal providers like Salem Public Schools support their communities, help ease families’ budgets, and bring fun summer programming together with healthy, accessible meals each day, an essential service to move the needle on ending hunger in the Commonwealth.”

For more information about Summer Eats, including meal site locations, visit www.projectbread.org/summer-eats, text FOOD or COMIDA to 304-304, or call 1-800-645-8333 for help in any language.

About Project Bread
Project Bread connects people and communities in Massachusetts to reliable sources of food while advocating for policies that make food more accessible—so that no one goes hungry. Summer Eats is one of the many nutrition programs they support. Any resident of Massachusetts struggling to afford food or worrying they might run out before they have money to buy more can call Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline for help in 180+ languages (1-800-645-8333) or send a confidential chat on www.gettingsnap.com for compassionate, personalized assistance. Counselors are available Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There is also a dedicated line is available to those who are hearing impaired. For more information, visit: www.projectbread.org.

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