{"id":11551793,"date":"2025-07-12T06:30:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T10:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11551793"},"modified":"2025-07-11T17:10:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T21:10:49","slug":"carrolls-free-summer-meals-program-will-have-biggest-year-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/12\/carrolls-free-summer-meals-program-will-have-biggest-year-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Carroll’s free summer meals program will have biggest year in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carroll County’s Summer Food Service Program gave children about 7,600 free meals in 2023 and about 75,000 in 2024. This summer, the program is expected to give out even more free meals, possibly the most in program history, due to substantial changes to the program’s reach.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program, founded in Carroll County over a decade ago and operated by Carroll County Public Schools, offers free meals in various locations to those 2-18 years old who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals during the school year, CCPS Food Services Supervisor Karen Sarno said.<\/p>\n

Most children served by the program live in Carroll County, she said, but children from other jurisdictions won’t be turned away. In Carroll County schools, 28% of students are eligible for meal benefits, on average.<\/p>\n

The program was originally designed to provide meals through congregate dining, which means children would come to a public area such as a school, recreation center or park to sit down and eat their meals. But this poses a substantial challenge to many places like Carroll County, Sarno said, a rural jurisdiction with many areas that don’t have dining areas within a walkable distance for children.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2024, the USDA redefined how rural areas are designated. Before this, the entire county was defined as urban, Sarno said, and was only able to give out a few thousand meals a year because of strict regulations mandating that urban areas must only hold congregate dining meals.<\/p>\n

But with the new definition of rural areas \u2014 which allows children to take home a week’s worth of free meals \u2014 the county was able to serve about 75,000 meals to eligible children last summer.<\/p>\n

“It’s just helped us so much to meet those families that really can use this program,” Sarno said. “Here in Carroll County, a lot of our federal tax dollars are going to these programs, so it’s really nice to see that we can utilize them in a way to help our community.”<\/p>\n

Sarno said the program receives federal reimbursement for each meal it gives out, as well as funding for transportation, supplies, materials and labor. Lunch options include grilled cheese, taco sticks and deep dish pizza, and children are given preparation instructions for each of the meals they receive.<\/p>\n

Take-home meals are distributed for children in rural areas of Carroll County on Wednesdays at Elmer Wolfe Elementary School and North Carroll Middle School and Thursdays at Century High School and Runnymede Elementary School. Congregate meals are offered in urban areas of the county on weekdays at Bishop\u2019s Garth Park, Dutterer Park and Taneytown Public Library, and do not require preregistration or income eligibility, allowing any child to arrive during meal service and eat lunch.<\/p>\n

This summer marks the first year the program extended its take-home meal sites to four locations, Sarno said, and the program as a whole increased from seven to nine weeks during the summer. Sarno said she hopes this will continue the massive growth of meal distribution the county has seen during the past three years.<\/p>\n

“I’m really looking forward to the numbers and hoping to see the growth, and know that we’re providing that food to the kids,” Sarno said. “The response that we get from people picking up is so wonderful.”<\/p>\n

Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carroll County’s Summer Food Service Program gave children about 7,600 free meals in 2023 and about 75,000 in 2024. This summer, the program is expected to give out even more free meals, possibly the most in program history, due to substantial changes to the program’s reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":89162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-07-12T10:30:41Z","apple_news_api_id":"8390cd2e-a129-4a36-8b70-3aca185f181d","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-07-12T10:30:41Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Ag5DNLqEpSjaLcDrKGF8YHQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"[{\"key\":\"\",\"type\":\"\",\"value\":\"\"}]","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[75,78,80,76],"tags":[],"feature":[],"location":[301,223],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[26635],"class_list":["post-11551793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carroll-county-times","category-cct-education","category-cct-latest-headlines","category-cct-news","location-carroll-county","location-maryland"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"75","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"Carroll's free summer meals program will have biggest year in history","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":"1752465600","print_slug":"CCT-L-FREESUMMERMEALS-0710","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"Carroll County's Summer Food Service Program gave children about 7,600 free meals in 2023 and about 75,000 in 2024. This summer, the program is expected to give out even more free meals, possibly the most in program history, due to substantial changes to the program's reach.","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. Articles that exceed these limits will not export. Please adjust images to reflect these limits.","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":"","print_content":"

Carroll County's Summer Food Service Program gave children about 7,600 free meals in 2023 and about 75,000 in 2024. This summer, the program is expected to give out even more free meals, possibly the most in program history, due to substantial changes to the program's reach.<\/p>

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program, founded in Carroll County over a decade ago and operated by Carroll County Public Schools, offers free meals in various locations to those 2-18 years old who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals during the school year, CCPS Food Services Supervisor Karen Sarno said.<\/p>

Most children served by the program live in Carroll County, she said, but children from other jurisdictions won't be turned away. In Carroll County schools, 28% of students are eligible for meal benefits, on average.<\/p>

The program was originally designed to provide meals through congregate dining, which means children would come to a public area such as a school, recreation center or park to sit down and eat their meals. But this poses a substantial challenge to many places like Carroll County, Sarno said, a rural jurisdiction with many areas that don't have dining areas within a walkable distance for children.<\/p>

In the summer of 2024, the USDA redefined how rural areas are designated. Before this, the entire county was defined as urban, Sarno said, and was only able to give out a few thousand meals a year because of strict regulations mandating that urban areas must only hold congregate dining meals.<\/p>

But with the new definition of rural areas \u2014 which allows children to take home a week's worth of free meals \u2014 the county was able to serve about 75,000 meals to eligible children last summer.<\/p>

\"It's just helped us so much to meet those families that really can use this program,\" Sarno said. \"Here in Carroll County, a lot of our federal tax dollars are going to these programs, so it's really nice to see that we can utilize them in a way to help our community.\"<\/p>

Sarno said the program receives federal reimbursement for each meal it gives out, as well as funding for transportation, supplies, materials and labor. Lunch options include grilled cheese, taco sticks and deep dish pizza, and children are given preparation instructions for each of the meals they receive.<\/p>

Take-home meals are distributed for children in rural areas of Carroll County on Wednesdays at Elmer Wolfe Elementary School and North Carroll Middle School and Thursdays at Century High School and Runnymede Elementary School. Congregate meals are offered in urban areas of the county on weekdays at Bishop\u2019s Garth Park, Dutterer Park and Taneytown Public Library, and do not require preregistration or income eligibility, allowing any child to arrive during meal service and eat lunch.<\/p>

This summer marks the first year the program extended its take-home meal sites to four locations, Sarno said, and the program as a whole increased from seven to nine weeks during the summer. Sarno said she hopes this will continue the massive growth of meal distribution the county has seen during the past three years.<\/p>

\"I'm really looking forward to the numbers and hoping to see the growth, and know that we're providing that food to the kids,\" Sarno said. \"The response that we get from people picking up is so wonderful.\"<\/p>

Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>"},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"1752268303","print_workflow_exported_username":"Tracie Rawson","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":"24228","print_status":"24232","add_export_buttons":"","print_endpoint":"tribune"},"really_short_title":"Free summer meals","short_title":"Carroll's free summer meals program will have biggest year in history","syndication_source":"","market_neutral_title":"Free summer meals program will have biggest year in history","social_title":"Carroll's free summer meals program will have biggest year yet","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"premium","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":89162,"title":"B7KL4N2P6REYXEOE7Y5TBCVKW4","filename":"B7KL4N2P6REYXEOE7Y5TBCVKW4.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migration\/2023\/06\/23\/B7KL4N2P6REYXEOE7Y5TBCVKW4.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2023\/06\/23\/free-lunch-for-all-available-at-taneytown-library-and-for-kids-at-two-westminster-parks-this-summer\/B7KL4N2P6REYXEOE7Y5TBCVKW4\/","alt":"","author":"154","description":"","caption":"A sign indicates the free lunch program at Taneytown Branch Library on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. 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