The Hoquiam School District will provide free meals to anyone age 18 and younger for the remainder of the school year.

“The USDA announced (Oct. 9) that they have extended the waiver to serve the Summer Food Service Program for the entire 2020-2021 School year,” said Hoquiam School District Food Service Director Christina Hansen. “This means that we can continue to serve free meals to anyone 18 years old and younger no matter where you are from.”

Friday, the district provided an updated list of food-distribution times, including an additional 15 minutes at the Grays Harbor YMCA, Emerson Elementary, Lincoln Elementary and Central Elementary locations — 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Additional locations include: Rosewood Manor, 1900 Broadway from, 10:45-11:30 a.m; and Washington School, 3003 Cherry St., from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

At the above locations, one breakfast and one lunch will be served per student. On Friday, three breakfasts and three lunches will be served to get kids through the weekend.

Meals will be delivered Monday (three days of meals) and Thursday (four days of meals) at the Red Rooster, 2801 Highway 101, from 10:45-11:15 a.m., and at the Copalis Crossing fire station, 1617 Ocean Beach Road, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

“We are excited that we can continue to partner with Coastal Harvest,” said Hansen. “They provide boxes of produce along with other products to our grab-and-go sites for distribution to families in our community.”

Last week was National School Lunch Week, and USDA Director Sonny Perdue made the announcement of the extension for free school meals for all children through the 2020-21 school year.

“As our nation recovers and reopens, we want to ensure that children continue to receive the nutritious breakfasts and lunches they count on during the school year wherever they are, and however they are learning,” said Perdue. “We are grateful for the heroic efforts by our school food service professionals who are consistently serving healthy meals to kids during these trying times, and we know they need maximum flexibility right now. I appreciate President Trump for his unwavering commitment to ensuring kids receive the food they need during this pandemic and for supporting USDA in continuing to provide these unprecedented flexibilities.”

The USDA had earlier extended flexibilities in its Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO) through June 30, 2021, to allow schools and other sites to continue to provide meals at no cost to all children. The department previously extended free meals through December, based on funding available at the time, but was now able to extend throughout the entire 2020-2021 school year.