UPDATED: Monday, June 22, 2020
Changes to Summer Feeding Program
To accommodate more families receiving meals through the Summer Feeding Program, the Citrus School District is making some adjustments to the schedule.
Beginning Monday, June 29, 2020, families can now pick up meals starting at 10:30 a.m. Sites will close at 12:30 p.m.
The following stops will also be eliminated starting Monday, June 29th:
Floral City: Istachatta at E. Floral Park Drive
Citrus Springs: W. Sullivan at N. Oak Leaf
Crystal River: N. Sky Crest at W. Admiral Byrd (Bicentennial Park area)
Central Ridge Area: E. Grail Place at N. Bighorn Pt.
Beverly Hills Area: W. Union St. at S. Easy St.
(Changes are reflected in main list below)
UPDATED: Friday, April 3, 2020
Expansion of Meal Distribution Sites and Bus Routes to Feed Students in Citrus County
We know that school closures can have a huge impact on the health and well-being of our students. In our district, 68% of our students — about 10,494 children — qualify for free and/or reduced-priced meals.
With the success of our meal distribution sites, Citrus Schools is expanding our reach to families by adding meal sites at more schools and now on school bus routes as well.
Starting Monday, March 30th, Citrus Schools will continue to ensure that students have accessibility to nutritious meals. Our Food and Nutrition Services Department has identified four additional locations to our already successful seven locations to provide meals - breakfast and lunch - at no cost to all school-aged children.
Each location will resume serving food to school-aged children on Monday, March 30th, at 10 a.m. and remain open until 1 p.m. daily. We encourage parents and caregivers to drive to our school site locations. You can find a list of these sites by scrolling to the bottom of this page.
With the success of our school distribution sites, we will also be starting our school bus routes with our food service employees who will be distributing food directly from our school buses. This distribution will start at 10 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. daily. We will have 35 routes staged at strategic locations throughout the county. You can find a list of these sites by scrolling to the bottom of this page. District employees will be handing out meals to families who are at the designated bus stops.
Meals to be handed out will consist of the recommended items per USDA guidelines.
Community Partnerships
We are so fortunate in Citrus County to have partnerships with so many wonderful non-profits in our community. We are partnering with Citrus County Blessings, a local non-profit which provides weekend food bags to over 1500 students in Citrus County who are faced with food insecurity at home. On Thursdays, a Blessings volunteer will be distributing weekend meals to families they serve. If your child is enrolled in the Blessings program and you would like to pick up their weekend bags at a bus stop location, please call #352-341-7707 to ensure a bag is ready for your child at a designated stop. You can also visit www.citruscountyblessings.org and hit the “contact us” button. Families should be prepared to show identification to receive meals.
Not only will families get meals on our bus routes, they can also collect school supplies. This is all thanks to the wonderful volunteers at the Citrus County Education Foundation. Supplies such as notebooks, paper, crayons, and pencils will be available for distribution if needed.
A special thanks to several community partners who mobilized immediately to get the Citrus County School District and the Citrus County Education Foundation up and running with coolers to transport meals safely on our buses. Several of our partners also donated their time, money and effort to make sure we had everything needed for our mobile feeding sites to be ready to go on Monday, March 30th.
Special Thanks to our Community Partners:
Duke Energy
Lowe’s
Walmart
DRC Sports
Sodium LLC
JJ and Jennifer Grow
The Brannen Family
Inverness Kiwanis
Shane Bryant
Citrus County YMCA
Mike & Tracy Hinde
Maggie Lampasona
Dixie and Robin Hollins
_______________________________________________________________
Meals will include one breakfast (for the next day) and one lunch.
Meal Distribution Sites at Schools:
Crystal River Primary – Crystal River (front of the school)
Forest Ridge Elementary – Beverly Hills (behind the school, back parking lot)
Pleasant Grove Elementary – Inverness (Side Bus ramp)
Citrus High School – Inverness (Stadium road/Cafeteria entrance)
Central Ridge Elementary – Citrus Springs (Bus ramp)
Lecanto High School – Lecanto (towards Crest School)
Rock Crusher Elementary – Crystal River/Homosassa (front of the school)
Homosassa Elementary -
(front of the school)
Floral City Elementary -
(front of the school)
Hernando Elementary -
(front of the school)
Citrus Springs Elementary -
(front of the school)
School Bus Meal Distribution Stops
Crystal
River:
Serving
Crystal River Primary:
W
River Rd @ Power Line
Ft
Island Trl @ Greenleaf Apts
N
Sky Crest @ W Admiral Byrd (Bicentennial Park area)
Gulf
to Lake @ Crede
Serving
Citrus Springs Elementary:
N
Citrus Springs Blvd @ Park
N
Margaret Ter @ W Gene Martin (park)
W
Dunklin @ Citrus Ave. (park)
W
Sullivan @ N Oak Leaf
Serving
Rock Crusher Elementary:
W
Southern @ Roselyn Way
Homosassa
Trl @ S Indiana (across from park by lodge)
Avocado
@ Gulf or Griffith
Lecanto:
Serving
Central Ridge Elementary:
W
Gene martin Ln & N Margaret Ter.
E
Stokes Ferry Rd & N Palm Oak Dr.
E
Cermak St & N Irving Park Ave.
E
Grail Pl & N Bighorn Pt.
Serving
Forest Ridge Elementary:
W
Silver Hill Ln & W Wild Cherry Ter.
W
Union St & S Easy St.
NEW: Melbourne St. & Rose Ave.
Serving
Lecanto Primary School:
W.
Cardinal Ln & S Pleasant Ave.
Douglas
St & Douglas Ct
S Pelican Ln & S Sandpiper Ter.
W
Glenbrook St & S Oldfield Ave.
Serving
Homosassa Elementary:
W
Holiday St & S Skylark Ter.
S
Riviera Dr & W Pebble Ln.
W
Park Dr @ S Hamburg Ter.
Inverness:
Serving
Hernando Elementary School:
N
Retreat Dr. @ Boat Ramp
E Millwood Ln. @ N Tanglewood Ave.
UPDATED: Stately Oaks @ Melody St. (mailboxes)
Serving
Floral City Elementary:
E
Oak Forest St. @41
UPDATED: Istachatta @ E. Floral Park Drive
Heatherwood Subdivision (E Heatherwood St. @ S Juneau Pt.)
UPDATED: Old: Dolphin @ Withlapopka // New Location - E. Gobbler Dr. and S. Alligator Place
UPDATED: Washington Ave. @ Leroy Bellamy Rd.
Serving
Pleasant Grove Elementary:
Trail 10 @ Illiana
Serving Inverness Primary School:
Canal @ Seven Lakes
S Eden Gardens Ave.
Citrus County Blessings Recipients
Families who receive meals through Citrus County Blessings can pick up their Spring Break and weekend bags on Thursday, March 19 and Friday, March 20 of this week at the same seven distribution sites being used by the school district.
Bags will be available from 11am to 1pm.
Families needing more details can call #352-341-7707, or visit the Citrus County Blessings website at
www.citruscountyblessings.org.