Dear Darien District 61 Families,

Child nutrition programs have been essential throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring kids continued to get the nutrition they need. We understand the coming school year will be a significant transition for families as we return to pre-pandemic meal programs with paid, free, and reduced-priced eligibilities for students.

Schools had federal flexibilities during COVID so they could serve all kids free meals. Some of those options expired, so we can no longer serve all meals free anymore. Instead, families will do what they did before COVID. Schools will take applications and use family income to qualify kids for free, reduce-price, or paid meals.

Schools are also facing the same challenges many grocery stores and other places are having with getting all the food and supplies they need. When this happens, school nutrition professionals are doing everything they can to serve healthy meals to your child. Sometimes that means needing to swap out some foods for others because some foods are easier to get. Please be patient with the school nutrition professionals striving to serve our kids. They are committed to making sure our kids get the healthy meals they depend on.

School meals must meet strong nutrition standards, and we continue to work hard to serve students the nutritious, delicious meals they need to learn and grow.

Nondiscrimination 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.

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: program.intake@usda.gov 

What’s New in Food Service?

Darien District 61 Food Service is happy to announce that we introduced a self-operating Satellite food service program at the beginning of the school year.  In a Self-Operating  program all food is prepared at a central kitchen and transported to school locations for service.  For District #61, all food is being prepared at Eisenhower Junior High and transported daily to both Lace and Mark DeLay Schools to be served to the students.

All the meals served meet the National School Breakfast and Lunch program requirements.  We encourage students to explore new food choices on the monthly menu.

Watch for new information on the Food Service website to let you know “What’s New In Food Service?”

Questions or comments can be directed to the Food Service Office.

Lillie M. Lillie, Director of Food Services  - 630-869-6056 
llillie@darien61.org

Roger Meyer, Food Service Supervisor - 630-869-6053
rmeyer@darien61.org

Click to be directed to school lunch menus 
DeLay
Lace
EJH