SEFFNER, Fla. — This summer, Hillsborough County Schools expects to provide more than 400,000 meals to students through the Summer Food Service Program.

The district is offering free breakfast and lunch to anyone under the age of 18 at various sites across the county.

Just because it’s summer break, it’s doesn’t mean the ladies at Hillsborough County Public School’s Nutrition Services are getting any extra rest and relaxation. 

They’re busy prepping and packaging thousands of meals.

“Nutrition is the basis of everything, right? We always say a hungry child can’t learn, but during the summer when somebody’s hungry, they can’t enjoy their summer break either,” said Shani Hall, who is the general manager of the district's Student Nutrition Services.

Workers man an assembly line in the walk-in fridge where hundreds, if not thousands, of cold meals are prepped and wrapped each day to be delivered to sites as part of the Summer Food Service Program.

“We have 113 school sites, and about 60 mobile sites we reach on our summer feeding buses and trucks and so we’re really excited,” Hall said.

Those meals head out on school buses to be delivered to sites, while other meals are prepared in school cafeterias for children attending the various summer programs being offered at Hillsborough County Public Schools.

“I’m eating a chicken biscuit, tater tots and apples, and I’m drinking milk,” said Grayson Noel, a rising fourth grader.

Noel is attending Lopez Elementary School’s HOST program for the summer. For the entire summer, breakfast and lunch are free, with the only requirement being that you’re under the age of 18. 

Hall said this will help a lot of families.

“A lot of people are having a hard time right now," she said. "They’re having a hard time making it with groceries, and if families have been relying on school meals to kind of bridge the gap, bridge the financial gap, it’s hard in the summer."

The Summer Food Service Program is funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.