HOLLAND — Holland Public Schools is distributing weekly meal boxes for schoolchildren at Central Wesleyan Church. The district is also opening an additional location for daily, on-site meals.

HPS will be distributing packages containing seven days of breakfast and lunches at the Holland church, 446 W. 40th St. (Door A), noon-1 p.m. every Thursday through Aug. 7. The Rural Non-Congregate Meal Program is run by the Michigan Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Every child, even if they do not attend HPS, is eligible to receive a week’s worth of meals, including preparation instructions, and milk. Children under 18 years old and those enrolled in special education services up to 26 years old are able to receive the boxes. Children do not need to be present during pick-up.

“Hunger doesn’t discriminate,” said Arletha Banks, HPS director of Nutrition Services. “We just want to make people feel heard and seen, and know we can do whatever we can to help in that area. We don’t ask for income or any kind of paperwork.”

Program participants can register for the meal boxes through the district’s website.

The only previous time HPS has organized non-congregate meal distribution was during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Banks, non-congregate sites are only available in rural areas. HPS, located in both Ottawa and Allegan Counties, must operate the distribution point in the latter, which is considered rural. 

“Usually (in rural areas) the family lives so far away from the site that children can’t walk,” said Banks. “There’s no way they can get to where the site is by walking.”

Banks said Central Wesleyan Church became involved with the non-congregate option because of its pre-existing relationship with the district. Once HPS found out Central Wesleyan qualified as being in a rural area, they asked the church to host the program. 

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Normally, the district solely operates daily congregate locations, where children must eat meals on-site. Congregate options through Meet Up & Eat Up will still be in operation this summer, with the addition of a new site at Kollen Park. The same age qualifications apply for congregate locations, but no registration is required.

As for the upcoming school year, Banks said HPS does not know if meals will continue to be free. Although free breakfast and lunches for K-12 public school students is included in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2026 budget proposal, the plan has not yet been approved by the Michigan Legislature. The previous budget was signed into law in July 2024.

“We’re hoping that it will continue,” Banks said. “If it doesn’t, we go back to how we did it before (the 2023-2024 school year), which (utilized) the free, reduced and paid lunch application.”

— Contact ONN reporter Hailey Hentz at hhentz@ottawanewsnetwork.org.