A classic story, hand puppets and chicken nuggets made the Spring Valley Library an extra-welcoming place for kids on a recent afternoon.

Stories and puppet shows are to be expected at any library. So are the snacks.

Over summer break, children who are used to eating lunch every day at school — especially the free lunches for kids who come from lower-income backgrounds — don’t have to go hungry. The library is one of more than 160 sites around Clark County that is participating in the Summer Food Service Program.

The federally funded Summer Food Service Program makes sure that children who depend on free and reduced-price school meals during the school year receive that benefit while classes are out. Any child under 18 can come to a feeding site and get a free meal, no questions asked.

The Summer Food Service Program was created nationwide in 1968, a follow-up to the Truman-era National School Lunch Act. As a partnership program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reimburses local sponsors — one of the main ones in Southern Nevada is Las Vegas-based Three Square food bank — that provides the food. The Nevada Department of Agriculture administers the program for the state.

Lindsay Talbot, community nutrition supervisor for the Nevada Department of Agriculture, said participation had remained steady through the years. In 2024, the state served more than 1.5 million meals statewide during the summer months.

“This program is essential to our community to ensure that those kids that rely on the free and reduced (price) meals during the school year still receive that benefit when school is out,” she said.

Three Square calls its version of the summer program “Meet Up and Eat Up.” It brings meals to libraries, parks and recreation centers, Boys & Girls Clubs, day camps and apartment complexes — breakfast, lunch or both.

Some, like the Spring Valley Library, offer fresh, chilled meals during the week and shelf-stable snack bags on the weekends on a first-come, first-served basis. Service runs through Aug. 8. (Most schools resume on Aug. 11.)

Melanie Hipolito, 10, dropped in to the Spring Valley Library last week for books and meals with her mom and two sisters, ages 7 and 3. Melanie, who just finished fifth grade, said the milk was like what she received at school, but the food was better.

While no individual child must prove need to get a meal, the Spring Valley Library, near Flamingo Road and Jones Boulevard, was chosen because its neighborhood trends low-income, said Melissa Sanchez, the children’s department head at the library. Census data show that the area’s household income is about $48,000. About a third of children live in poverty.

Sanchez said the library gave out more than 2,300 meals last summer. She said participation had increased over the last four years she’d been there, likely a combination of increased need, awareness and improved scheduling — on the recent chicken nugget day, a puppet show had just wrapped.

Sanchez says it can be difficult to ask for help and feel singled out. They don’t ask people about their income.

Branch manager Ashley Gordon said people who are truly needy let them know how grateful they are.

“We are a free and open space that anyone in the county can go to,” Sanchez said. “There’s no barriers. We try to eliminate as many barriers as possible to access our services.”

About one in five Southern Nevada children, or more than 110,000 kids, overall live in a food-insecure household, Three Square said.

“For too many Southern Nevada children, the end of school means the end of school meal programs, a crucial source of nutrition,” Beth Martino, president and CEO of Three Square, said in a statement. “With thousands of families struggling to put food on their tables, programs like Meet Up and Eat Up can bridge the gap, providing relief for parents and ensuring that every child has the food they need to continue their healthy development.”

The Clark County School District also sponsors meals at several campuses.