By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

Children who attend Kids First Awareness Community Learning Center in Alabaster’s Simmsville community will be able to receive free meals this summer and during the school year, Alabaster City Schools leaders recently announced.

During an early June meeting, the Alabaster Board of Education voted unanimously to request Alabama Department of Education funds to extend its feeding program to include Kids First.

Kids First is an afterschool and summer program off Simmsville Road offering programs to at-risk kids in the area.

The state funds will pay for breakfast and lunch at Kids First during its summer programs through July 25, and will pay for a snack and dinner for afterschool participants during the regular school year, according to Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers.

The program will be similar to Alabaster City Schools’ summer feeding program, which is being offered at Meadow View Elementary School through July 3.

Vickers said the school system has a “wonderful partnership with Kids First,” and said several Alabaster students utilize the center’s offerings.