Free Breakfast Offered To Neshaminy K-12 Students

LANGHORNE, PA —Breakfast is free for all students for the rest of the school year, the Neshaminy School District has announced.

Starting Monday, all breakfasts are free of charge in all schools under the Pennsylvania School Breakfast Program (SBP). Students began enjoying their free breakfast at the Walter Miller Elementary School Monday, the district reported on its Facebook page.

Because grades K-12 participate in the National School Lunch program, they are eligible for the free breakfast through Gov. Tom Wolf's new Universal Free Breakfast Program.

Neshaminy School District currently operates six elementary schools, three middle schools and one high school in grades K-12.

Wolf in September announced a $21.5 million plan to provide universal free school breakfast for 1.7 million students across the commonwealth this school year. The Universal Free Breakfast Program went into effect on Oct. 1 and runs through the end of the school year.

Family income does not come into play in determining who can be offered a free breakfast through the program that was announced by Wolf. All students can receive a school breakfast regardless of whether they qualify for free or reduced-price meals eliminating the attachment of any stigma associated with the free meal.

Unlike other meal programs, kids automatically qualify for free breakfast regardless of family income. Doing so lowers the barrier to entry and helps feed more kids dealing with food insecurity, according to the governor's office.

“As a parent and grandparent myself, I know that there is nothing more important than our kids,” said Gov. Wolf. “This investment in free school breakfast for all is an investment in a better, healthier, happier life for our kids now and in the years to come.

“It is completely unacceptable for a child to start the day hungry,” Wolf said in a press release. “I’m taking hunger off the table for Pennsylvania kids by creating the Universal Free Breakfast Program.”