Welcome
to School Nutrition!
The Bedford County School Nutrition program is
made up of a team of food and nutrition professionals that are dedicated to
students' health, well-being and their ability to learn. We support learning by
promoting healthy habits for lifelong nutrition and fitness practices.
Meals, foods and beverages sold or served at schools meet state and federal
requirements which are based on the USDA Dietary Guidelines. We provide
students with access to a variety of affordable and appealing foods that meet
the health and nutrition needs of students.
2026
Summer Nutrition Options
Virginia Sun Bucks
A federal program created to fight food
insecurity by providing eligible children with a one-time $120 food benefit on a Virginia SUN Bucks card or SNAP EBT card to
purchase groceries.
Who
is automatically eligible for Virginia SUN backs and does not need to apply?
Your child is automatically enrolled in Virginia
SUN Bucks if they:
Receive SNAP or TANF benefits
or participate in income-based Medicaid or applied
for and received free or reduced-price school meals at school during 2025-2026
school year through the National School
Lunch Program.
How
do I know if my family needs to apply for Virginia SUN Bucks?
If your child did not apply for and receive free
or reduced-price school meals through the National School Lunch Program and
your family does not participate in SNAP, TANF, or income-based Medicaid, you
must apply.
When
and how will VDSS issue Virginia SUN Bucks benefits?
Benefits will be issued beginning June 2026 on a
rolling basis to children who automatically qualify and to families who are eligible
by application. SNAP recipients’ benefits will be loaded onto their existing SNAP
EBT card, while non-SNAP recipients will receive a SUN Bucks card that will be mailed
to address on file.
How
do I apply?
You can visit virginiasunbucks.com to apply
online or print and mail the application to 5600 Cox Road, Glen Allen, VA 23060
by August 31. Alternatively, you can apply by calling the Virginia SUN Bucks
call center (866-513-1414) from June 15-August 31.
You can find more information and details by
clicking the following link: virginiasunbucks.com
Virginia SUN Bucks Flyer (PDF)
Free
Summer Direct-to-Home Meals
Bedford County Public Schools will offer
Direct-To-Home Meal Boxes this summer for all eligible children starting May
24, 2026.
All eligible families who sign up for the
program will have meals (breakfast and lunch) delivered directly to their homes
via UPS, FedEx, or USPS. To be eligible
your student must attend one of the CEP schools in the District (SES, GES, HES,
MNES, MVES, SRH, SRM, LHS, LMS, BIES, BES, BP) or qualify for free/reduced
meals via income-based meal application or direct certification through a
program such as TANF, SNAP or Medicaid as well as live in a rural designated
residence. Families with validated
addresses and children who are registered by that time will be on the home
delivery list for that first delivery and all reoccurring weeks throughout the
summer. The opt in survey will remain
active and open for more children to be added for each meal kit delivery period
after the initial starting week. You can apply for these meals through July 31, 2026.
Important Announcement: If you have a child enrolled in an affiliated
BCPS Summer Site that is providing meals or a YMCA program, you may sign this
child up for meal kits and your child will receive meal kits that cover the
days/weekends when they are not at the site.
The Nutrition office will take summer school students off meal delivery
for the weeks in June that they attend summer school and then put them back on
the meal kit delivery list at the close of summer school for the remainder of
the summer.
PROGRAM START DATE: May 24, 2026
PROGRAM END DATE: August 15, 2026
Direct to Home Meal Flyer (PDF)
Direct to Home Meal Flyer (WORD)
To opt out:
If
you are signed up for meal kit delivery, but plan to be away and no one will be
available to receive/pick up delivered meal kits during this time, please call
the Bedford County School Nutrition Office before you leave to request that
meal kit delivery discontinue while you are away. **Requests to discontinue for the next week
must be completed by Monday each week and must be done at least one week ahead
of when you plan to be away. If you do
not “opt out” please do not refuse kits on delivery. Returned kits must be discarded. Bedford County School Nutrition: 540-580-1045, ext. 10224
You can sign up by clicking the following link: https://optiship.niftycode.rs/forms/8cfb584a-551c-4038-aa4e-693b81b40beb?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExRTZBeFF0eWQ2c29iYTlKWHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR41ekuZxHS4cnzaJPH9vKl9zZ231ATlqUX2FEwebwd050wsAgGOJRiMe8qUkQ_aem_G-bCkwNVua9pTqj-Q_pQzA
Summer Food Service Program
Bedford
County Public School District is participating in the Summer Food Service
Program. Meals will be provided at the sites and times listed below. Children
must remain onsite while consuming their meals at these locations:
Moneta Elementary School: Monday, June 1st, 2026 
Thursday, June 25th, 2026 (No Friday Meal Service) Breakfast is served
8am-8:30am and Lunch is served 12pm-12:30pm
Bedford YMCA (must be an enrolled
camper) Monday, June 1st, 2026 
Friday, August 7th,
2026. Breakfast is served
8:45am-9:15am and Lunch is served 12:15pm-12:45pm
Additionally, meals to-go will be provided
to all children without charge
and are the same for all children regardless of race, color,
national origin, sex including gender identity and sexual orientation), age or
disability, and there will be no discrimination in the course of the meal service. Meal kits will be distributed on Monday - Thursday and will include one complete breakfast
or lunch meal per kits.
Meal
kits will be distributed on a first
come, first serve basis, at the
sites and times as follows:
Montvale Elementary School: Monday, June 1st, 2026 
Thursday, June 25th, 2026 (No Friday Meal Service) Breakfast is served
8am-8:30am and Lunch is served 12pm-12:30pm
Bedford Primary
School: Monday, June 1st, 2026 
Thursday, June 25th, 2026 (No Friday
Meal Service) Breakfast is served 8am-8:30am and Lunch is served
12pm-12:30pm
Liberty Middle
School: Monday, June 1st, 2026 Thursday, June 25th, 2026 (No Friday Meal
Service) Lunch is served 12pm-12:30pm
Staunton River Middle School:
Monday, June 1st, 2026 
Thursday, June 25th, 2026 (No Friday Meal Service) Lunch is served
12pm-12:30pm
Goodview Elementary School: Monday, June 1st, 2026 
Thursday, June 25th, 2026 (No Friday Meal Service, with exception of
YMCA students enrolled at Goodview Location) Breakfast is served 8am-8:30am and
Lunch is served 12pm-12:30pm. (Additionally,
Goodview YMCA enrolled campers only will continue service days through Friday,
August 7, 2026).
Big Island
Elementary School: Monday, June 1st, 2026 Thursday, June 25th, 2026 (No Friday Meal Service) Breakfast is served
8am-8:30am and Lunch is served 12pm-12:30pm
Media
Release: BCPS Summer Feeding Schedule (PDF)
Media Release: BCPS Summer Feeding Schedule (WORD)
Nutritious Breakfast & Lunch at all 19
schools In Bedford County
Each cafeteria provides a nutritious breakfast
and lunch each day to students. The program serves approximately 2,500
breakfasts and 6,700 lunches each day in the school cafeterias across the
county. The program employs about 130 staff members.
Our Program is Self-Supporting. The program
receives no local tax funding or funding from the school system. The program is
expected to make all of its own money. Funds are generated from the sales that
are made each day in the school cafeterias, federal reimbursement that is
received each month from all reimbursable meals served and state funding that is
received once per year.
From these funds the program pays all of the
salaries and benefits for employees, purchases all foods and supplies for the
cafeterias, purchases new equipment when needed and repairs existing equipment
and purchases all other items that are needed to run the program. As you can
see, the school nutrition program is operating a business and is expected to be
profitable. This is a fact that many people do not realize about the program.
Online
Payments
Online payments are a simple, safe and secure
way to make payments to your students account 24 hours a day at your
convenience. Families may deposit funds to student meal accounts with
their credit or debit card online at LINQ Connect This is a secure,
third-party vendor.
Online payments have a processing fee of 3.95%
of the transaction with a minimum fee of $2.85 per transaction.
Payments may be made at no charge in
all school cafeterias by cash or check.
There is no charge to maintain your LINQ Connect
account, which allows families to view student meal transactions and set
spending limits or restrictions.
Nutritious, Well-Balanced School Meals
The school nutrition program strives to offer nutritious, well balanced school
meals. The United States Department of Agriculture is the governing body that
establishes meal requirements for school meals and local school nutrition
programs are expected to follow these meal requirements. School menus are
planned at the local level and a nutrition analysis is computed from a USDA
approved computer program called Titan. The goal is for meals to contain no
more than 30% calories from fat and no more than 10% calories from saturated
fat averaged over a week of menus.
Four Entree Choices and More
The school nutrition program offers a wide
variety of options each day in the school cafeterias. It is not an easy task to
put a menu together since it is very difficult to please everyone. All schools
offer at least four entrée choices each day with more at the middle and high
schools. A variety of fruits and vegetables are offered and all milk options
are either low fat or skim. Recent Government Accounting (GOA) reports state
“school meals are healthy and children who eat school meals consume more
fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy items than children who do not eat
school meals.”
If your child eats school meals we hope they
enjoy their experience and we very much appreciate their business. If your
child does not eat school meals we would invite them to give us a try. We would
love to have them as our customer. Any questions or concerns regarding the
school nutrition program can be directed to Suzanne Quesenberry, School
Nutrition Supervisor at 540- 586-1045 ext. 10224.
Meal
Substitutions for Medical or Special Dietary Reasons
USDA Regulation 7 CFR Part 15b requires
substitutions or modifications in school meals for children whose disabilities
restrict their diets. A child with a disability must be provided substitutions
in foods when that need is supported by a signed statement from a licensed
physician.
In Cases of Food Allergy:
Generally, children with food allergies or intolerances do not have a
disability as defined under either Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act or
Part B of IDEA, and the school food service may, but is not required to, make
food substitutions for them. However, when in the licensed physician’s
assessment, food allergies may result in severe, life-threatening
(anaphylactic) reactions, the child’s condition would meet the definition of
“disability”, and the substitutions prescribed by the licensed physician must
be made.
School food service may make food substitutions, at their discretion, for
individual children who do not have a disability, but who are medically
certified as having a special medical or dietary need. Such
determinations are only made on a case-by-case basis. This provision
covers those children who have food intolerances or allergies, but do not have
life-threatening reactions (anaphylactic reactions) when exposed to the food(s)
to which they have problems.
Medical Statement for Children with Special Dietary Needs
Each special dietary request must be supported by a statement explaining the
requested food substitution and must be signed by a recognized medical
authority. The Medical Statement must include:
An identification of the medical
or other special dietary condition which
restricts the child’s diet;
The food or foods to be omitted
from the child’s diet; and
The food or choice of foods to be
substituted.
If we do not receive a medical statement from a recognized medical authority,
your child will receive a regular lunch tray. Medical statements
completed by parents or guardians will not be accepted.
Raising
the Bar for School Meals
In an effort to continually improve the quality
of the menus we offer our students we are raising the bar on the standards of
our school meals. Our focus is on enhancing the diet of students with more
nutritious choices here at school and by providing nutrition education that
will help students form healthy habits that last a lifetime!
Federal legislation known as Hunger-Free
Kids Act of 2010 authorizes funding and sets policy for USDA's core child
nutrition programs: The National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast
Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and other federal food programs. The
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act allows USDA the opportunity to make real reforms
to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition
and hunger safety net for millions of children. This act has established the
healthy guidelines that form the basis for good nutrition in schools. We
encourage you to follow similar healthy guidelines at home.
Key enhancements include an increase in the
availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat
fluid milk in our meals. We are also reducing in the levels of sodium,
saturated fat and eliminating added trans-fat in meals. We do not supersize our
meals, but instead strive to meet the nutrition needs of students within their
age specific calorie requirements.
Non-discrimination
Statement
In accordance with federal civil rights law and
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies,
this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color,
national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation),
disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in
languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative
means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large
print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state
or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202)
720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at
(800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a
Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination
Complaint Form which can be obtained online or from any USDA
office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA.
The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and
a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail
to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and
date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter
must be submitted to USDA by:
1.
mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2.
fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
3.
email:
[email protected]
This institution is an equal opportunity
provider.