Barbara Lee Promotes Summer Free Meal Program for Kids

(Oakland, CA) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) was at the Cherryland Elementary School on Tuesday to help promote a program that provides free meals to children in the Ashland, Cherryland and Hayward area.

"This meal program provides a vital service to many local children and families, and it is important that people know about it," said Lee, who championed efforts to create a year-round child nutrition program while she was serving in the state legislature.

The summer food service program provides approximately 3,000 meals per day to children under the age of 18 in the Ashland and Hayward area during the summer months when school is not in session. According to program organizers, many local families rely on school lunches to feed their children during the school year, and without the program many children would be at risk of going hungry.

Lee was joined by Dr. Dale Vigil, Superintendent of the Hayward Unified School District; Grant Peterson, President of the Hayward Unified School District Board of Education; Al Schieder, the HUSD nutrition manager who oversees the free lunch program; and Jill Hoogendyk, Principal of the Cherryland Elementary School.

The information on the meal program is as follows: