Albert Lea Area Schools will once again be offering free meals for children this summer.

All children ages 18 and under can receive breakfast and lunch Monday through Thursday from July 14 to August 7. No meals will be served on Fridays.

Meals will be served at Hawthorne Elementary School, 1000 E. Hawthorne St. Breakfast runs from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. and lunch will be runs from 11 a.m. to noon.

These meals meet USDA nutritional standards. There is no registration required.

The Minnesota Department of Education and the USDA are working to bridge the nutrition gap during the summer for families who receive free and reduced-price meals with this program.

However, any child from the age of 3 to 18 in Freeborn County can use this summer meal service.

In 2013, Albert Lea helped provide part of 2.4 million meals to children across the state. It had three of the 625 sites statewide.

These sites were a Salvation Army tent in downtown Albert Lea, Youth for Christ’s The Rock and Sondergaard Park.

For more information, call the food service office at 379-5300 or 379-5301.