BATON ROUGE - Parents in East Baton Rouge Parish have some additional time to sign their children up to be recipients of meals delivered to their homes during the winter break.

According to The Advocate, the registration deadline has been extended to Friday at noon, which is just about a day later than the original deadline.

The meal delivery service, a special pandemic-related program made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is open to all of EBR's 41,000 public school students as well as non-public school students who receive free meals in school. 

In addition to this, the program allows younger siblings who aren’t yet school age to be included as meal recipients.

Families can sign up online at: https://tinyurl.com/Y28RHK59 

The Advocate notes that the meals are prepared and delivered by a Baton Rouge-based company called 'TDP Group,' which does business as Focus Foods. 

Over the winter break, participating children will receive two sets of meals, beginning with a 10-day pack prior to Christmas and a five-day pack before students return from Christmas break.

According to The Advocate, each pack includes a bundle of frozen dinners along with other food items for a total of five lunches, five breakfasts, and five dinners, as well as snacks. 

Focus Foods will deliver the food boxes between Saturday and Wednesday.

The Louisiana Department of Education and Focus Foods are also partnering to organize meal pickup points for parents of students in Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes. 

The five participating sites will be handing out one set of meals before Christmas on Dec. 21 or 22, and one after Christmas on Dec. 28 and 29.

> Eligible Livingson and Tangipahoa Parish residents should click here to complete a special signup form<

Distribution sites and dates are listed below:

-Abundant Life Church, 206 Edgewood Drive, Denham Springs (Livingston Parish residents only)

-Old Courthouse, 20180 Iowa St., Livingston (Livingston Parish residents only)

-Independence Depot Pavillion, 269 E. Railroad Ave., Independence (Tangipahoa Parish residents only)

-Mission Church, 41347 I-55 Service Road, Hammond (Tangipahoa Parish residents only)

-Zemurray Park, 600 S. Oak St., Hammond (Tangipahoa Parish residents only)