Volunteers with Central Florida Health Care hand out food at the Boys & Girls Club of Polk County, South Ridge Unit, one of United Way of Central Florida’s distribution sites, in Lake Wales on June 4. | Diego De Jesus, LkldNow
2-minute read
Now that the school year’s over, many of Polk County’s youth are in need of food because they don’t have access to school meals.
In 2023, Feeding America reported that 20.3% of Polk County’s youth, 34,130 children under the age of 18, were food insecure — living in a household that could not access enough food due to a lack of money or other essential resources.
“From the thousands and thousands of people that I’ve seen and talked to and that we have served in our food distribution lines, you can see the despair, you can see the need on peoples’ faces,” said Chief Operating Officer of United Way of Central Florida Rod Crowley.
Since 2019, around 1 in 5 of the county’s youth have been considered food insecure, with the exception of 2021 where the percentage fell slightly to 16.1%.
“You can really tell that there is a huge gap and a huge need there for those people,” Crowley said.
There are several organizations and locations where families can access free food and meals for children this summer:
United Way of Central Florida
“United Way of Central Florida has 14 locations in Polk County that distribute food twice a month,” Crowley said. “We serve about 280,000 visitors, and that equates to 55,000 unique clients — about a third of those are children.”
Summer BreakSpot is a federally-funded program that offers free meals to youth no older than 18 across Florida. Dates, meal offerings, and hours vary by location.
See a full list of Summer BreakSpot 25 locations across Lakeland.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Polk County, James J. Musso Unit, 950 Pinewood Ave – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Boys and Girls Clubs of Polk County, John L. Sanders Unit, 1525 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Boys and Girls Clubs of Polk County, Carl G. Schowe Unit, 920 Lowry Ave. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Camp Fire Sunshine, 2600 Buckingham Ave. – lunch and afternoon snack Monday through Friday on specific dates in June, July, and August
Crystal Lake Middle School, 2410 N. Crystal Lake Drive – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June
Crystal’s World of Dance, 801 N. Massachusetts Ave. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Dixieland Elementary School, 416 Ariana St. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June
Doris Sanders Learning Center, 1201 Enchanted Drive – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June
Ewing Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1201 North Webster Ave. – lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June and July
First United Methodist Church, 72 Lake Morton Drive – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June
Fontaine Gills Family YMCA, 2125 Sleepy Hill Road – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Girls Inc., Lakeland Jenkins Building, 1220 W. Highland St. – lunch and afternoon snack Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Highlands Grove Elementary School, 4510 Lakeland Highlands Road – breakfast and lunch on specific days in June and July
IDEA Lakeland, 1775 Interstate Drive – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June and July
Inspire Academy, 1020 N. Kentucky Ave. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Jesse Keen Elementary School, 815 Plateau Ave. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June
Kathleen Senior High School, 1100 Red Devil Way – lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June
Keeping It Real Ministries, 1015 Sikes Blvd. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July.
Lakeland Family YMCA, 3620 Cleveland Heights Blvd. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
New Beginnings High School, 320 W. Main St. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June and July
New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1321 N. Webster Ave. – lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Polk Christian Preparatory School, 3151 Hardin Combee Road – breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
Rochelle School of the Arts, 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. – breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June
Southwest Middle School, 2815 Eden Parkway – lunch Monday through Friday on specific dates in June and July
WonderBoxed STEAM Camp, 2700 S. Florida Ave. – lunch and afternoon snack Monday through Thursday on specific dates in June and July
At almost all sites, there is no application necessary and any child 18 or younger can simply come during mealtimes to receive a meal.
Mary’s Bagel Cafe
From June 9 to July 31, Mary’s Bagel Cafe at 1242 N. Florida Ave. in Lakeland is offering free meals for kids ages four to 17 on Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meals are provided by the restaurant’s non-profit Mary’s Pantry.
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Diego De Jesus, originally from New York City, earned an English degree from Florida Southern College in May 2023. During his freshman year, he started writing for the college newspaper, and the bug bit him. Since graduating, he's pursued a career in journalism, covering a wide variety of topics, events, and people.
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