The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula are gearing up to serve summer meals for children 18 years of age and younger for the summer season.

This will be the fifth year the Boys & Girls Clubs have made free meals available for children across the peninsula through the sponsorship of the Simplified Summer Food Program for Children.

The meals will be served at 11 locations in Sequim from Monday-Friday starting June 19-Aug. 25 and Port Angeles from Monday-Friday starting June 21. All sites are closed for July 4.

“We’re committed to seeing that children receive nutrition,” said Mary Budke, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Olympic Peninsula.

“It’s been such a blessing to have this program.”

Budke said the summer food program costs an estimated $137,000 for both the Port Angeles and Sequim programs for 52 days of summer, breakfast and lunch served at two locations and lunch only served at nine locations.

The program serves 22,198 meals including breakfast and lunch served at the Sequim and Port Angeles Boys & Girls clubhouses, lunch only served at nine locations throughout Clallam County and snacks.

The program is funded through the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), qualifies for the free and reduced meal rates of the school districts, subsidized meals through the USDA, contributions from community partners, local area grants, individual contributions and “volunteer power” that Budke said cuts down the cost.

Budke said the program does not check for an ID and all are welcome.

All the food is prepared at the Sequim and Port Angeles clubhouses and clients must eat the meals on site.

Budke said the program also includes meals for infants with milk served every day, literacy activities and music.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula also hire high school and college students to help hand out food at the 11 locations across the peninsula and members from the Sequim Food Bank hand out food bags on Fridays for children to eat on the weekends.

If federal funding is cut for after-school programs in the future, Budke said the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula will continue to serve meals to children in need.

“We are carefully watching the health and human services portion of the federal budget for our food program,” she said.

“It will severely impact our communities if there are budget cuts in that arena.”

She said if that is the case, the Boys & Girls Clubs will adjust their budgets accordingly.

“We will always offer some form of nutritional snack or meal at the Boys & Girls Clubs,” Budke said. “We have had a flexible food program where we have gone from a light snack to a heavy snack to a meal.”

Meals will be served at the following locations in Sequim: breakfast 8-9 a.m. and lunch noon-1 p.m. at The Boys & Girls Club, 400 W. Fir St., lunch from noon-1 p.m. at Carrie Blake Park covered area, 202 N. Blake Ave., Elk Creek Apartments, 90 S. Rhodefer Road, Mountain View Court Apartments, 303 S. Fifth St. and Walmart Superstore, 1284 W. Washington St.

Port Angeles locations: breakfast 8-9 a.m. and lunch noon-1 p.m. at the Port Angeles Boys & Girls Club, 2620 S. Francis St., lunch noon-1 p.m. at Dream Park (Erickson Playfield), 298-300 S. Race St., Evergreen Family Village, 2202 W. 16th St., Jefferson Elementary, 218 E. 12th St., Shane Park, 613 S. G St. and 11-11:30 a.m. at Port Angeles High School (July 5-Aug. 1), 304 E. Park Ave.

Meal Bags continued

Thanks to continued community support, the Sequim Food Bank, 144 W. Alder St., is expanding its weekend meal bag to the summer.

During the school year, about 130 bags of meals and snacks for the weekend were sent out to in-need students in Sequim schools.

Andra Smith, executive director of the Sequim Food Bank, said they plan to distribute the bags of meals at all of the free lunch sites in Sequim each Friday through the summer and pick up the program again in the fall at the schools.

She said organizers anticipate as many 175 meals may be needed but they’ll know more after the first week and adjust as needed.

Funds for the new summer meal program came from donations from the Sequim Sunrise Rotary, Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church, Price Ford, Sequim Valley Foursquare, Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church, King’s Way Foursquare Church, First Baptist Church of Sequim, Sequim Walmart and many individual donations.

For more information and/or to support the Weekend Meal Bag program, contact the Sequim Food Bank at 683-1205 or 461-6038.

Reporter Matthew Nash contributed to this story.