Canutillo ISD offers free dinners to anyone 18-years-old or younger

Anyone in Canutillo, 18-years-old and younger, can now eat dinner for free at any of the district’s four schools.

The district started the program after realizing some students were just not getting enough food at home. Some were taking part in after school sports and other activities and then going to bed hungry.

The Maldonaldo’s have four daughters all in the Canutillo school district.

Cecila Maldonaldo said even with both she and her husband working, it’s not always easy to feed a family of six. And that is why she is calling the district’s new free dinner program a blessing.

Dinner for 8-year-old Brisa Maldonaldo and her sisters is free, while mom and dad pay $3.25 each.

The meal consisted of a chicken sandwich, fries, banana and milk.

This was the first time the family had eaten dinner as Alderete middle school, but it won’t be the last. They are planning to have dinner here every night Monday through Thursday when the program is offered.

Jeff Hudson is the food service director.

“Texas is one of the states with the highest food instability rates in the country. We want to make sure every child, not just in the district, but in the surrounding area can come to our four campuses and eat for free,” said Hudson.

Some kids ran from football and volleyball practice straight to the cafeteria.

The district already offered free breakfast and lunch to all students, so why the need for some kids to eat all three meals at school?

“We had heard some concerns from the Boys and Girls clubs as well as some of our athletic programs that students were getting on the activity bus or leaving the program and some were unfortunately having food instability. They were they weren’t sure if they were going to get fed later in the night,” said Hudson.

Organizers say many parents are still at work come dinner time.

The Maldonado girls are already checking out this week’s menu and are excited about taco night. So is dad, as long as his wife promises to bring some salsa from home.

The program just started about a week ago. Already, district officials say they are feeding dinner to some 300 students and other members of the community. There is no cost to the district thanks to a federal grant. The district is reimbursed depending on the number of people who use the program.