USDA Free Meals Information and FAQ's

The United States Department of Agriculture, also known as the USDA, is providing community meals between now and the end of the school year or for as long as the funding lasts. This is to help families who are facing food shortages because of the ongoing pandemic. They are also providing lunch and breakfast to all Millard students, free of charge. Please look through the Frequently Asked Questions below for more information. 

Free Meals FAQ

Who can get free breakfast and lunch?

  • Anyone between the ages of 1 to 18 may get free breakfast and lunch whether physically in school, participating as a concurrent learner or are another child in the household.

How do we get the free breakfast and lunch?

  • Students physically in school will go to the cafeteria during their normal meal times.
  • Curbside community meals are available at the below listed schools:

Central Middle School- 12801 L Street
Millard North High School- 1010 South 144th Street
Millard South High School- 14905 Q Street
Millard West High School- 5710 South 176th Street

Meals can be picked on Tuesdays and Fridays from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm each week starting 10/6.  Tuesday meal pick up will include a breakfast and lunch for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Friday meal pick up will include a breakfast and lunch for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Tuesday Pick Up Curbside Community Order Form - order cutoff time will be 5:00 pm on Monday

Friday Pick Up Curbside Community Order Form order cutoff time will be 5:00 pm on Thursday

An individual submission must be submitted for each child requesting a meal. 

Can students who attend school receive to go meals for the weekend?

  • Yes, in addition to free breakfast and lunches offered Monday through Friday, the USDA will support a free breakfast and lunch for Saturday and Sunday.  This benefit will be available to all in-school students who would like a weekend meal kit.   For ease of distribution and storage, the meals will be served as a kit containing all of the menu components and for easy transport.

Two ways to receive the meal:

Option 1 (preferred)

Families can submit a request through the weekend meal order form for each student. Completing this order form will guarantee that the student(s) receive a weekend meal kit.  The student can pick up the food from the satellite station (similar to grab n go breakfast) that will be setup in the building.

Option 2

Students exiting the building can stop by the satellite station and pick up one available weekend meal kit per student.  Un-reserved meal kits will be on a first come, first serve basis.  The students have the option to grab a kit as they exit the building and staff will only need to mark the student as a tally.  

Do I need to complete any paperwork to get the free meals?

  • No paperwork is necessary to receive a free breakfast or lunch.
    • Students physically in school will go through the cafeteria with their normal meal service procedures. 
    • For children not physically in school a curbside meal order form can be completed for any child between the ages of 1 – 18 years of age for curbside pickup at any school site between 10:00 am – 11:00 am daily.

Can I get all my meals from one school if I have students in more than one school?

  • Yes, you can pick up meals for all of your children from one school site regardless of grade level or age.

What if I don’t qualify for free meals normally? I don’t want to take a meal from someone else.

  • Everyone between the ages of 1 through 18 years of age is welcome to get a meal with us. The USDA sponsors this program. They know how important nutrition is to learning and want each child to have food. We have plenty of food. The meal your student gets will not be leaving another student without food.

How long will this last?

  • The USDA says they will allow us to feed students the remainder of the 2020/2021 school year.

Should I still put money on my child’s account?

  • You are more than welcome to put money on your student’s account, but they will not need it until the free meals are over unless your student would like a la carte snacks or extra milk.
  • A la carte purchases are not covered by the USDA funding of the free meals. Your student will need money in their account to buy a la carte items such as extra milk, second entrees, extra snacks, C-Store purchases, etc…

The USDA announced that free meals can be retroactive going back to the first day of school for the district. Will my money spent on meals since August 10th and the time Millard began the program be refunded to my student’s meal account?

  • Yes, any money that was spent on reimbursable breakfast and/or lunch(es) back dating to August 10th has been credited back to your student’s meal account.  If you use My School Bucks, then you will see this reflected as deposit on or around the date of 9/15/2020 & 9/18/2020.

Can I request a refund of my student(s) meal account?

  • Generally, a meal account refund will be issued if your student(s) will be leaving the school district.

 Should I still complete a free/reduced application?

  • To receive free meals for the 2020/2021 school year a free/reduced meal application is not necessary to participate.
  • Once the funding from the USDA has been exhausted, then a current approved 2020-2021 free/reduced meal application will need to be on file to receive the applicable meal benefits.
  • To receive other applicable services of free/reduced qualification, then I would encourage your family to submit an application if you have not already done so for the 2020-2021 school year.  Examples of such waivers may include: transportation fees, activity fees, club fees, etc…

Where can I find the menus?

 

If you have any other questions please contact the Food Service Office at:

Justin Wiley
Director of Food Service
jpwiley@mpsomaha.org
402-715-1440