Kealakehe High, Waikoloa schools added to summer meal program

Two additional West Hawaii schools have been added to the list of sites for the state Department of Education’s summer meals program.

The department Thursday morning announced the addition of Kealakehe High School in Kailua-Kona and Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School in Waikoloa to the list of sites providing free meals to children.

While the Waikoloa school is being added immediately and will begin serving lunch only Friday, Kealakehe will not begin providing lunch service until June 8.

Meanwhile, the department said it was extending Grab-and-Go meal service at select sites for four days to transition to the Summer Seamless Option program that will begin June 8 run through July 17. West Hawaii schools that will serve meals during the transition are Kohala High School, Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School (lunch only) and Waimea Elementary School with Kealakehe beginning lunch service June 8.

Today, Thursday, is the final day that meals will be provided at Kahakai Elementary, Kealakehe Intermediate and Konawaena High schools.

The addition of the two West Hawaii schools to the Seamless Summer Option program follows a May 23 article by West Hawaii Today about a lack of sites providing meals over the summer in West Hawaii. At the time, just Naalehu Elementary in Ka‘u, Waimea Elementary in South Kohala and Kohala High School in North Kohala were the only sites, leaving students across West Hawaii without access to the program.

All children 18 and under can pick up meals from 7:30 to 8 a.m. for breakfast and 11:30 a.m. to noon for lunch at any of the sites. Locations and updates can be found online at www.hawaiipublicschools.org.