TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Parks and Recreation says its new summer meals program, in collaboration with Summer BreakSpot and Feeding Tampa Bay, was a success.

Over the summer, 20 parks and rec sites served over 35,000 meals and more than 40,000 snacks.

“They have meals here, there’s the main course there, they have a salad, they have fruit there,” said Regina McBride-Smith, the manager of the Parks and Recreation Department.

The Forest Hills Community Center hosted more than 100 kids for summer programs — kids that may not have received meals otherwise.

Summer BreakSpot is a new service to the city this year, and coordinators say its ease of use and selection of foods was much greater than in past years.

“You have a simple process of actually going on to the phone and just clicking the numbers in and they go back to the location where the meals are actually counted,” McBride-Smith said. “It was pretty easy. No paperwork involved. That makes it very easy.”

Coordinators also had more time to plan activities for the thousands of kids enrolled in summer programs.

Students return to the classroom in Hillsborough County Thursday, Aug. 10, for the first day of the 2023-24 school year.