Pittsburgh to offer breakfast, lunch, snacks to city youth during summer

Pittsburgh’s Department of Parks and Recreation will launch its summer food service program next week.

The CitiParks program offers free breakfast, lunch and snacks to anyone under 18 and residents with intellectual disabilities up to 21 over the summer months. This year, it will get underway Wednesday and continue through Aug. 18.

The program is funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provides money through Pennsylvania’s Department of Education, city officials said.

Food will be offered at Ammon, Brookline, Jefferson, Magee, Ormsby, Paulson, Phillips and Warrington recreation centers, as well as more than 30 partner locations throughout the city.

CitiParks also will partner with Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Food Service Division to provide a mobile food truck. It will operate in conjunction with the city’s Roving Art Cart every Friday to provide an additional location for children to receive food.

“Helping to eliminate food insecurity and feeding Pittsburgh children is so important. No child should have to go hungry, and this great program picks up where the after-school food program ends when school is out,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement.

The program served 70,011 meals in 2022, including 28,628 breakfasts, 36,189 lunches and 5,194 snacks, according to city officials.

To mark the start of this year’s program, a kick-off event will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at Allegheny Commons Park near the National Aviary. The event will feature the Roving Art Cart, activities and lunch for kids.