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Berea Kids Eat offering robust summer meals for Berea children

Berea Kids Eat offering robust summer meals for Berea children

June 17, 2026

BEREA, Ky. – Berea Kids Eat will offer another year of robust summer programming and healthy meal opportunities for Berea’s school-aged children, beginning in June.

Through its Berea Kids Eat program, Grow Appalachia – a strategic initiative of Berea College – will offer Multi-Day Meals through the SUN Meals Summer Feeding Program. Berea Kids Eat will offer pickup at Berea Community School (3 Pirate Parkway) for families as a drive-thru service to access free meal boxes for youth ages 18 and under. 

Meal service days at Berea Community School are Tuesdays and Fridays from 12:30-2:30 p.m. This is the only site where parents can pick up without their child(ren) present, but they must sign up at https://bit.ly/bereakidseatsignup. If sign-ups are full, guardians must bring their child(ren) to pick up meals. 

“Summertime can be stressful for families with students who eat meals at school during the school year,” said Candace Mullins, director of Grow Appalachia. “We want every Berea kid to have the same access to meals that they do during the school year. That’s why we are expanding our reach and offering more opportunities for Berea families to access meals.”

In addition to free summer meals, Berea Kids Eat offers outreach and programming at the Glades Garden, a Grow Appalachia-stewarded education and activation space for youth and families to learn hands-on skills focused on growing, cooking and preserving food. Programming at Glades Garden this year will take place alongside meal service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

Berea Kids Eat also collaborates strategically with national and local partners to support food security and wellness in Berea with regional impact. One of Berea Kids Eats’ regional partners this year is CHI St. Joseph Berea Hospital. With generous funding, Berea Kids Eat is relaunching the Sprouts Youth Market, a program designed to teach youth how to grow, harvest and sell produce at the Berea Farmers Market. You can find these Sprouts and their goods at the Berea Farmer’s Market this summer on June 20, July 11 and 25 and August 1. Also available during these markets are $10 Sprouts vouchers for any Berea youth 18 and under to shop at the market.   

For more information, email Lara Armstrong at armstrongl3@berea.edu and keep an eye on the Berea Kids Eat Facebook page for summer programming and meal updates.