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Free meals available for all Bristol Bay Borough students

Tanya Dube

All Bristol Bay Borough students will be eligible for free breakfast and lunch when school starts August 23.

The Bristol Bay Borough school district is providing free meals to all students this year with help from a federal program.

Bristol Bay Borough School District Director of Child Nutrition Tanya Dube said the district is able to offer all students free meals this year because of a United States Department of Agriculture program. That’s available for schools that offer both breakfast and lunch, and have migrant status, foster care status and family income levels.

“We’re pretty fortunate that most of our students do participate in our lunch program, but I’d like to see the numbers increase for breakfast because breakfast is a really important meal that a lot of students don’t necessarily get,” she said.

Dube said she hopes the free meals will improve academic performance.

“If a kid is hungry, it’s hard for them to focus in class. So if they have full bellies, then that gives them the chance to sit and pay attention and gives their brain the fuel they need to learn.”

Bristol Bay Borough students can get either a hot breakfast in the cafeteria, or grab cold cereal and fruit to go. School starts for Bristol Bay students on August 23.

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