We’re working to end childhood hunger by helping schools get what they need to provide breakfast and lunches to students during the school year, and lunches when school isn’t in session. Learn more about our partners in this work, Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, and Food and Research Action Center
Why?
Because today in Arizona, almost 1 in 7 children don’t consistently get the food they need to grow and thrive. To put that in perspective, that’s about 2 kids in every elementary classroom across the state.
We know that kids with growling tummies can’t focus on learning, and that’s a child’s most important job.
Free School Meals
We know that when low-income students get meals in school, their health improves, class disruptions go down, and grades go up. To support these students, we work with the Arizona Department of Education’s Health and Nutrition Services Department (ADE) and community members to help schools and school districts provide free breakfasts and lunches to their students.
Parents!
Fees for Reduced Price school meals in Arizona are waived from January 2023–May 2024! This includes Reduced Price breakfasts and lunches for students in K-12 schools operating the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. If your household meets the Income Eligibility Guidelines for reduced-price meals found here and you have not yet submitted a school meal application, please contact your child’s school directly for an application. Questions? Contact us at [email protected].
School Meals
We encourage schools provide free breakfasts to low-income students to give them a healthy start to the school day, and allow them to focus on their school work. This effort includes:
- Reaching out to school districts that could benefit from higher school breakfast participation
- Meeting with school nutrition professionals to help plan successful programs
- Directing schools to funding resources that could help them adopt an alternative breakfast models or feed more kids
To support these students, we work with the Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign, FRAC, Valley of the Sun United Way, the Dairy Council of Arizona, and the Arizona Department of Education’s Health and Nutrition Services.
Why?
Because out of 100 students that qualify for free/reduced lunches in Arizona, 46 don’t eat breakfast, according to the School Breakfast Scorecard released by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).
Summer Meals
Kids who rely on school meals throughout the year are at risk of going hungry during the summer. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the NSLP Seamless Summer Option allow schools and community-based organizations to provide free nutritious meals to children and teens while school is out of session. Through partnerships with the Arizona Department of Education’s Health and Nutrition Services, food bank partners and school districts that directly sponsor summer meal sites, and community partners such as the AzHealthZone’s SNAP-Ed partners, AzFBN works to promote summer meals sites and identify site expansion opportunities in underserved urban and rural communities.
How you can get involved:
- Learn more about Summer Meals.
- Locate a Summer Meals Site by visiting www.azhealthzone.org/foodsites or text “FOOD’ or “COMIDA” to 304-304
English 
Spanish