BOCA RATON, FL — Weekday school meals are getting harder to qualify for at some Palm Beach County campuses this year. The weekend food is not.
Boca Helping Hands says its KidsPack Weekend Meal Program will keep sending free, easy-to-prepare food home with students at 15 local elementary schools, even as some schools switch from universal free meals to an application-based system for the 2026–2027 school year.
The Boca Raton-based nonprofit announced the update on July 20, 2026, as families begin sorting out what the change means for breakfast and lunch.
The shift affects schools that no longer qualify for the federal Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, a program that lets high-need schools serve free meals to all students without individual applications. According to Boca Helping Hands, families at schools that dropped out of CEP must now apply and meet income guidelines for their children to get free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches.
KidsPack works differently. According to the organization, the program has no income requirements and no application. Any student a participating school identifies as benefiting from the food can receive it. The meals are meant to cover the weekend, when school cafeterias are closed.
The program is not new. Boca Helping Hands says it has partnered with local elementary schools for more than 15 years and currently serves students at 15 Palm Beach County schools. The nonprofit says it spends more than $500,000 a year on KidsPack, funded entirely by donors, foundations, businesses and community partners.
"We will continue to stand with our schools and families as these changes take effect, and we hope our program can help make up for any loss of weekday school meals," said Andrew Hagen, CEO of Boca Helping Hands.
Hagen also urged families whose schools now require an application to fill one out. "We encourage every eligible family to apply for free or reduced-price school meals," he said, calling school breakfast and lunch "the first line of defense against childhood hunger" and describing KidsPack as a weekend complement to those meals.
The nonprofit says it serves more than 35,000 Palm Beach County residents each year through food assistance and workforce training. Its meal work reaches students in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Wellington, Lake Worth and Delray Beach.
What families should know: KidsPack continues with no application at the 15 participating schools, but weekday free or reduced-price meals at schools that left CEP now depend on submitting an application and meeting income guidelines. The provided information does not list which specific schools lost CEP eligibility or the deadline to apply.
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