Free breakfast and lunch at eight Gulfport schools
Eight Gulfport schools are eligible to receive free healthy breakfast and lunch for the current school year.
Those schools are: Anniston Elementary, Bayou View Elementary, Central Elementary, Pass Road Elementary, West Elementary, and 28th Elementary as well as Central and Bayou View Middle School students will not have to pay for breakfast and lunch.
With COVID numbers declining, regular school lunch programs are resuming offering free or reduced lunch for those who qualify.
The number of applications for free or reduced lunch are so high that Gulfport School District’s elementary and middle schools, qualify for the community eligibility provision or CPE which allows for free breakfast and lunch for those students.
Parents do not need to pay a fee or submit an application for this program. GSD Child Nutrition Director and Dietitian Melissa Olsen said, “When I found out there was this community provisions program, I was like this is amazing. We can get our kids back eating for free. The cost of everything is going up right now and I hate to bring up the price for school lunch and having parents have to decide whether phone bill or feed their kid is more important. I want to take something off the plate for the community. So, finding these programs to help out our area in the time of need is really important.”
Olsen stressed the importance for parents to fill out and turn in school lunch applications, it helps when qualifying for free lunch programs.
