The Leadership Center
Business Office
2211 Q Street, Aurora, NE 68818
Espressions: Coffee & Community
1117 M Street, Aurora, NE 68818
Phone 402-694-3214

Summer Food Service Program 

(or as we like to call it, Lunch Bunch Program)

Lunch Bunch Mission: Our mission is to create a nurturing environment for youth aged 18 and under. Through the dedication of engaged adults and student leaders, we provide wholesome meals, enriching activities, and opportunities for community engagement every weekday during the summer. Our aim is to cultivate lasting friendships and mentorship connections among young participants.

2024 SFSP "Lunch Bunch" begins Tuesday, May 28th in all communities!

Marquette - Park: 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Central City - South Park Picinic Shelter: 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Aurora - Lincoln Creek Trail Head: 11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday*

Aurora - 11:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. on WEDNESDAYS ONLY!^

All students who attend Marquette or Central City SFSP Lunch Bunches must be 18 or under to receive a free lunch. We will serve Monday through Friday at both sites. Your lunch must be eaten at the site. We will offer enrichment at both sites.

We are heading into our 8th year of Summer Food Service Program, a.k.a. Lunch Bunch. Up until this year, we served lunches, Monday through Friday, each summer in Aurora (8 years), Marquette (3 years) and at our newest addition, Central City (2 years). We served a total of 5,852 lunches in 2024!!! That is record breaking. This means we have served over 16,000 free lunches since we began "Lunch Bunch" 8 years ago!

We also introduced 95 students to service leadership through our D4LC program in 2023. This takes us to over 2400 students in the last few years!

We're so excited to get Lunch Bunch started again this year! See you all on May 28th!

This program is offered in partnership with Prairie Plains Resource Institute, Hamilton County 4-H, Heartbeets Garden, the Aurora Mall, TLC’s D4LC programs and made possible by fundraising and private donations.

For details on this program including sponsorship, enrichment programs and more, call Maile at The Leadership Center at (402) 694-3934

Click here to see more on how we got involved.

*Due to changes in regulations for SFSP's, those who attend Aurora's program must qualify for the Free & Reduced Lunch Program at the Aurora Public School. You must be pre-registered prior to attending and will be required to sign in and take your meals to-go. Sign up here. Those who participate will receive single meals on Monday, Thursday and Friday. On Tuesday, you will receive 2 meals for Tuesday & Wednesday.

^On Wednesdays, The Leadership Center will serve ANYONE and preferably EVERYONE a healthy snack with planned games, activities, and occasionally our high school leadership groups (a.k.a. the "big kids") from 11:30-12:30. As of 05/24, these snacks will be funded 100% by The Leadership Center and we are actively seeking local sponsors to help fund these snacks for the program to continue. Our goal is to find enough sponsors to increase Lunch Bunch from once per week to two or more times per week, but this will rely on sponsors and validation of the importance of this program by community members. If our Lunch Bunch program has impacted you and your family positively, we encourage you to submit a comment in this form that we will share with our potential sponsors. Click here.  (5/24/2024)

Proud Service Providers & Sponsors

The Leadership Center
Business Office
2211 Q Street, Aurora, NE 68818
Espressions: Coffee & Community
1117 M Street, Aurora, NE 68818
Phone 402-694-3214

© The Leadership Center 2024

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