For the first time ever, the Dawson County School System will be offering free lunch during the month of June to all children.

Funded through the National School Lunch Program and sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education, the program is offered to systems with high percentages of students who eat free and reduced lunch during the school year.

Free lunch will be served at Robinson Elementary School from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. June 1-30, Monday through Friday.

All students 18 and younger are eligible — including those who do not eat free and reduced lunch during the school year. Students with disabilities 21 and younger are also eligible.

Linda Byrd, director of school nutrition for Dawson County Schools, said: “If kids show up, we’ll feed them, no questions asked.”

The Seamless Summer Nutrition Program is offered in schools with more than 50 percent of the student population being on free and reduced lunch.

Byrd said that in October 2010, Robinson Elementary School hit the 50-percent mark.

“That qualified us to have a summer feeding program through the National School Lunch Program,” Byrd said.

She said a lot of schools “do this all summer long, but for us it’s something new, because it’s the first time we’ve had a school to reach the 50-percent mark.”

For more information, call Byrd at (706) 265-3246, or visit www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/.