Find a program / Free summer meals for kids / New Jersey
New Jersey · summer 2026 (last summer)
Free summer meals for kids in New Jersey
1,079 summer meal sites in 122 New Jersey cities and towns, run by 144 sponsors, from USDA's Summer Meals Site Finder. 4 offer meals to go and 1,075 are eat on-site.
These are last summer's sites
Need food for your kids now? Call the USDA National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, or check the official USDA Summer Meals Site Finder. The list below is the summer 2026 season, which ended on September 30, 2026. These sites are not listed as open now, and the dates and meal times are from last summer, not a schedule for this year or next summer. Sites for the next summer are usually announced in the spring.
SUN Bucks (Summer EBT) in New Jersey
According to USDA, New Jersey took part in SUN Bucks (also called Summer EBT) in 2026. See how to apply on USDA's New Jersey Summer EBT page. USDA's page was last updated August 14, 2026. To take part, a state or Tribe needs an approved plan from USDA, and each decides again every year. Check the current list on USDA's site for next summer.
Cities with the most summer meal sites
Largest sponsors in New Jersey
- City of Newark (SuNup) 115 sites
- City of Elizabeth Department of Recreation 44 sites
- Elizabeth Board of Education 43 sites
- Paterson Board of Education 43 sites
- New Brunswick Public School District 36 sites
- Newark Board of Education 35 sites
- City of Perth Amboy 33 sites
- Plainfield Board of Education 30 sites
- Camden City School District 29 sites
- City of Jersey City 29 sites
All cities A–Z
- Absecon 1
- Asbury Park 6
- Atalantic City 1
- Atalntic City 1
- Atlantic City 16
- Bayonne 9
- Belleville 6
- Belmar 1
- Beverly 1
- Bogota 2
- Bound Brook 6
- Bradley Beach 1
- Bridgeton 14
- Brooklawn 1
- Browns Mills 3
- Buena 2
- Burlington 1
- Camden 55
- Cape May 2
- Carneys Point 3
- Carteret 6
- Chesilhurst 1
- Clayton 1
- Clementon 1
- Cliffside Park 1
- Clifton 12
- Dover 5
- East Newark 1
- East Orange 20
- Eatontown 1
- Edison 1
- Egg Harbor City 2
- Egg Harbor Township 4
- Elizabeh 1
- Elizabeth 87
- Englewood 6
- Ewing 1
- Fairview 3
- Freehold 6
- Galloway 6
- Garfield 5
- Gibbstown 1
- Gloucester City 3
- Guttenberg 1
- Hackensack 8
- Haledon 2
- Hamilton 1
- Harrison 3
- Hillside 11
- Howell 2
- Irvington 28
- Jackson 2
- Jamesburg 1
- Jersey City 55
- Keansburg 4
- Kearny 4
- Keyport 1
- Lake Como 1
- Lakehurst 1
- Lakewood 59
- Lakewood Cheder School 1
- Lawnside 1
- Linden 9
- Little Egg Harbor 3
- Lodi 3
- Manville 2
- Maple Shade 3
- Mays Landing 3
- Millville 10
- Morristown 1
- Mount Holly 1
- Mullica Hill 1
- Neptune 7
- New Brunswick 37
- Newak 1
- Newark 168
- Newton 3
- North Bergen 4
- North Plainfield 4
- Nutley 1
- Orange 19
- Passaic 32
- Paterson 45
- Paulsboro 2
- Pemberton 4
- Penns Grove 2
- Pennsauken 2
- Perth Amboy 33
- Phillipsburg 9
- Plainfield 32
- Pleasantville 11
- Port Norris 1
- Prospect Park 2
- Quinton 1
- Rahway 18
- Red Bank 2
- Riverside 2
- Roselle 5
- Rosenhayn 1
- Salem 3
- Seabrook 1
- Seaside Heights 2
- Sicklerville 3
- Somerdale 1
- Somers Point 1
- South Hackensack 1
- South Orange 1
- South River 2
- South Toms River 1
- Trenton 40
- Tuckerton 1
- Union City 14
- Vineland 9
- Weehawken 1
- West New York 8
- Wharton 2
- Willingboro 4
- Woodbine 1
- Woodbury 2
- Woodland Park 1
- Woodlynne 1
- Woodstown 2
More for New Jersey families
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Questions families ask
Who can eat at a summer meal site?
USDA says its summer meal programs serve meals and snacks at no cost to children 18 and younger. Sites marked "Open to all kids" are open sites in USDA's data, meaning they welcome children from the community. Sites marked "Open with limits" are open to the community but can limit who attends, for example for safety or space. Hours change, so call the site before you go.
What does "Eat on-site" or "Meals to go" mean?
Eat on-site means meals and snacks are eaten at the site. Meals to go means they can be picked up and eaten somewhere else; some sites hand out more than one day at a time.
When are summer 2027 sites announced?
Sites for the next summer are usually announced in the spring, after sponsors apply to their state agencies. Until then this page shows last summer's list as a guide to which towns and sponsors ran sites. The official place to look is the USDA Summer Meals Site Finder.
Is this the same as SUN Bucks?
No. SUN Bucks, also called Summer EBT, is a separate USDA program that gives eligible families a benefit on a card. Summer meal sites serve meals to kids directly. Your state may offer one, both or neither.
Run a summer program in New Jersey?
BackPR is a software company and does not run these meal sites. It is free for registered nonprofits: online registration, payments, waivers, attendance and messages to families. No subscription and no BackPR fee on what families pay.
See the free nonprofit plan · Summer camps · Free forms and templates