REDMOND, OR -- With school now officially out, local districts are ready to start free lunch programs to help students even during summer. Bend and Redmond programs begin Monday, June 15.

Tammy McCombs with the Redmond School District says for some kids, lunch is their main meal. "If they were at home alone, there's really not that much to eat. Every day they really count on coming out and getting a nice hot lunch that really they wouldn't have access to, otherwise."

Last summer, the Redmond School District distributed more than 23,000 free lunches. One of their seven lunch sites will combine education with the meal, this year. "That's a really exciting program that we're launching this summer," McCombs tells KBND. "In conjunction with our Title I aid program, there will be Title I aid teachers and education assistants at the library three days a week. Kids can earn free books, they can listen to story time."