Beaufort County’s Summer Food Service Program continues to grow, adding on two new open sites this year.

The federally funded program provides free breakfast and lunch meals to children and teens under 18 years old each weekday during the summer. It is sponsored by Care-O-World Early Learning Center, which provides services and childcare to families in need, along with Beaufort County Schools.

Teresa Clayton, who runs the summer feeding program for Care-O-World, said the new sites added this year include St. Luke Church of Christ in Washington and Chocowinity Primary School.

The program still has its other locations at Eastern Elementary School, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Beaufort County in Washington and Belhaven and Care-O-World in Chocowinity.

Summer Food Service was started to help children of low-income families who receive free and reduced-price meals during the school year. During the summer, many of these children lose access to breakfast and lunch meals.

In June, the program served 6,000 meals in 10 days, and last year it served a total of 30,000 free meals during the summer months, Clayton said. The program is in its sixth year, and it runs until Aug. 14.

Karine Tellez, 14, comes to eat breakfast and lunch every weekday while the program runs through the summer. It’s her second year participating in it.

Tellez, who is a rising ninth grader set to attend Washington High School, said she enjoys the food. She knows many of the names and faces of people who come to eat along with her.

Some parents come to eat with their children, but for them there is a fee of $3 for breakfast and $5 for lunch.

Care-O-World provides a bus route that transports kids and some of the parents to and from their homes, a route driven by Washington resident Bill Booth for the past four years.

“I’m really passionate about what I do,” Booth said. “All these children need to eat.”

Joyce Gibbs, kitchen manager at P.S. Jones Middle School, is one of many Beaufort County Schools employees who help out during the summer when school isn’t in session.

She said she thinks the program helps a lot of children, especially those with working parents.

Gibbs has been in the school system for 31 years, and she said she gets to know some of the children who come to eat during the summer and also attend the middle school.

“It’s all about children at the end of the day,” Gibbs said.