Bend-La Pine School District launches free summer meal program for kids ages 1 to 18
Tracee Tuesday
(Update: Summer lunch program offers La Pine students the option to take their lunch to-go)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — When the school year ends, free summer meals for all children and teens in Bend and La Pine begin. The Bend-La Pine School District’s Summer Meal Program is now open, offering free breakfast and lunch to kids ages 1 through 18, regardless of income. No sign-up, paperwork or income verification is required. Just show up.
The program, which has been running for more than 30 years, will operate from mid-June through late August. Meals must be eaten on-site at participating locations in Bend, though adults can purchase meals for about $5.
This summer, the district is especially excited to expand access for La Pine families. For the first time, La Pine Elementary will offer a non-congregate meal service, allowing people to pick up meals and take them home. The La Pine site will also be open seven days a week for students.
Five locations in Bend will serve meals, including R.E. Jewell Elementary, where Principal Jesse Rasmussen says the program fills an important gap.
“During the school year, we’re able to provide breakfast and lunch, for free to students. During the summer, they aren’t in school, and so they don’t have access to that. But this allows them to come in and get lunch, for free. Which is a nice benefit,” Rasmussen said. “The other kind of side benefit for us is that it can help maintain some of our community feel for the students. Where families can come and see each other, at, you know, here at the site, and hang out with each other and play on the playground for a little bit, get some food, and kind of maintain that community feel, from one school year to the next school year.”
The Bend locations include Boys & Girls Club – Ariel Glen, Boys & Girls Club – Downtown Bend, R.E. Jewell Elementary, Ponderosa Elementary and Westside Village Magnet. Depending on the site, students will receive breakfast, lunch or both.
Garra Schluter, the district’s Director of Nutrition Services, said the menu follows guidelines from the Oregon Department of Education and is designed to mirror what students eat during the regular school year.
“We’ll do we usually always have a fruit and vegetable of some sort or a salad or something. We will do pizzas. We make our pizza from scratch. We will do, pasta dishes. So macaroni and cheese that we make, we also have, like a beef baked ziti that we’ll do, we’ll do sandwiches, of course, once in a while,” Schluter said. “So it’s, it’s, it follows typically what our, our normal meal service during this school year is. It’s just it’s a one choice as opposed to having multiple choices. And that’s kind of our goal is to, introduce foods that maybe they don’t try at home, and maybe they’ll learn to like something, you know, different.”
The program is generally closed on weekends, as well as on June 19 and July 3.
In addition to free on-site meals, Oregon is offering the Summer EBT program for 2026. Qualifying families can receive a one-time payment of $120 per eligible child on an EBT card to help buy groceries during summer break. Families already receiving SNAP, TANF or certain Medicaid levels get these benefits automatically. New families can apply online at the Oregon Summer EBT website. The application deadline is September 1, 2026.
For more information about participating locations and weekly menus, visit the Bend-La Pine School District website.
Reported at 11:47 AM – June 9, 2026
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — As summer break begins, Bend-La Pine Schools is stepping up to make sure kids in Bend and La Pine don’t go hungry.
The district’s free summer meal program will once again offer breakfast and lunch to children and teens — no paperwork or registration needed.
Why district leaders say this program is so important for local families, plus where meals will be served and what students can expect this summer.
KTVZ’s Tracee Tuesday will have a full report.
Tune in to KTVZ News at 4 p.m. today, on our FOX affiliate.
Here are links to previous KTVZ stories on the free meals program:
Bend-La Pine Schools’ free summer meal program begins next week – 2025
Bend-La Pine Schools’ free summer meals program begins next week – 2024
Bend-La Pine Schools free summer meal program begins next week – 2023
Bend-La Pine free summer meals start June 18 – 2018
Bend-La Pine summer ‘Lunch and Learn’ set – 2013