By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

The Alabaster School System will provide free meals to local kids 18 or younger at Meadow View Elementary School from May 27 through July 3, the school system announced on May 8.

The program will be offered through the city’s first federally funded summer feeding program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Through the program, children 18 and younger will be able to eat breakfast and lunch for free at the school. Parents will be able to eat with their children for a fee of $2 for breakfast and $4 for lunch.

Alabaster City Schools Child Nutrition Program Specialist Heather McDermott previously said the program will be open to the community, and said the school became eligible to serve as a host site for the program after its enrollment in the free and reduced-price lunch program topped 50 percent this year.

Breakfast will be provided on weekdays at MVES from 7-8:30 a.m., and lunch will be provided from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., McDermott said.

McDermott said the free and reduced-price lunch program helps to feed kids who otherwise may not eat during the school year, but said the summer program will help to bridge a gap while children are out for the summer.

ACS also will offer a summer camp program from May 27-Aug. 1 for students 5 years old entering kindergarten through students 12 years old entering seventh grade. All summer camp participants will be able to participate in the summer feeding program.