INVERNESS, Fla. — Citrus County Schools will provide free meals to all of its students for the upcoming school year.

The school district announced Thursday that its Food and Nutrition Services department will provide free meals to every enrolled student.

The district is doing so by expanding its participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP will help provide free breakfast and lunch to our almost 16,000 students.

District officials said students who still pack lunches can still grab milk and two other items for free.

Participation is automatic and families are not required to fill out any forms or applications. Families will receive notifications in the mail with details of this program.

The first day of school is Aug. 10. Students enrolled in eSchool are not eligible.

"With the high price of gas, groceries, and other goods, lots of families are struggling," said Citrus County Schools Food and Nutrition Services Director Roy Pistone. "We hope this will help provide some relief.

“We knew the federal assistance from pandemic relief was going to end at some point, so we were happy to position ourselves to continue to feed students at no cost moving forward."