To help in Florida’s post-Irma stage, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture accepted a request to serve free school meals.
Students in 48 counties are now approved under a FEMA Major Disaster Declaration to receive free school meals through the National School Lunch Program. The free meals will be distributed from Sept. 18 – Oct. 20.
Over 3,000 schools and 2.5 million students will potentially be impacted by these changes. Right now the department is still waiting to hear the about the additions of other counties being added to the waiver.
For now, the current 48 counties receiving free school meals are:
- Charlotte
- Collier
- Hillsborough
- Lee
- Manatee
- Miami-Dade
- Monroe
- Pinellas
- Broward
- Palm Beach
- Glades
- Hendry
- Sarasota
- Clay
- Duval
- Flagler
- Putnam
- St. Johns
- Brevard
- Citrus
- DeSoto
- Hardee
- Hernando
- Highlands
- Indian River
- Lake
- Marion
- Martin
- Okeechobee
- Orange
- Osceola
- Pasco
- Polk
- St. Lucie
- Seminole
- Sumter
- Volusia
- Alachua
- Baker
- Bradford
- Columbia
- Dixie
- Gilchrist
- Lafayette
- Levy
- Nassau
- Suwannee
- Union
Parents or guardians of students impacted by this change can find additional information here or by contacting the department at 1-800-504-6609 or InfoFNW@FreshFromFlorida.com.
