The free summer meals are back.

And so are the summer barbecues.

The Manteca Unified School District’s Nutrition Education Supervisor Stephanie Huff made that announcement.

“We are finally back at the parks,” she said on Monday. “We have not been at the parks or doing barbecues since the summer of 2019.

“We are excited to be back.”

The summer meal program and barbecues officially kicked off this week.

This week, the summer barbecue schedule will take place today (Tuesday, June 7) at Woodward Park beginning at 11 a.m., followed by Lincoln Park on Wednesday, Mossdale Landing (Lathrop) on Thursday and Smith Park (Weston Ranch) on Friday.

The summer meals provided by MUSD are available to children ages 2 through 18. Youngsters are required to eat the meal on the premises.

The schedule will take place each week – the exception is Monday, July 4 – from now through July 22.

The times and places are as followed:

·         Manteca – 11-11:30 a.m., Diamond Oak Park, 1179 Pestana Ave.; Lincoln Park, 245 S. Powers Ave.; Woodward Park, 710 E. Woodward Park. 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m., Baccilieri Park, 154 Stockton St.; Sequoia Park, 868 Wawona St.; Shasta Park, 995 E. Edison St. 12:30-1 p.m., B&C Giles Park, 545 W. Alameda St.; Northgate Park, 1750 Hoyt Ln.; Roberts Estates Park, 1740 Rail St.

·         Lathrop – 11-11:30 a.m., Mossdale Landing, 700 Towne Centre Dr.; 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m., Stanford Park, 450 Spartan Way; 12:30-1 p.m., Manuel Valverde Park, 15557 Fifth St.

·         Stockton – 11-11:30 a.m., Smith Park, 2606 William Moss Blvd.; 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m., Paul E. Weston Park, 3603 EWS Woods Blvd.; 12:30-1 p.m., William Long Park, 4535 Woodchase Ln.

·         Artessi Camp (July 8 through July 22) – 10-10:15 a.m., Artessi Camp 2, 777 W. Matthews Rd.; 10:20-10:35 a.m., Artessi Camp 3, 333 W. Matthews Rd.

 For more information, e-mail shuff@musd.net.