Parents of District 51 students can now apply for free and reduced meals by going online.

Through a ParentBridge account, you can access a third-party program called "MyPaymentsPlus", formerly called "MealPayPlus".

MyPaymentsPlus allows parents to track their student's food and meal purchases as well as maintain and download funds to meal account balances.

This convenience is being matched by the new application process for free and reduced meals.

You can submit free and reduced-price meal applications online by going to http://www.d51schools.org. You can access the application directly on the district's homepage or you can click on the "For Parents" drop-down menu.

There's no more potential for lost paperwork and the receipt of benefits is faster for families.

Director of Nutrition for the school district, Dan Sharp, says the district typically receives 4,500 applications in the first 40 days. With online applications, it's already received close to 2,000 in the first nine to ten days.

"Those 2,000 applications are all 100% error-free, so now those benefits get uploaded within 24-hours and now those students have the updated eligibility posted at their schools," said Sharp.

According to Sharp, parents who have enrolled online already have completed the process within three to five minutes.

Another benefit of the MyPaymentsPlus program; parents receive email updates when their child's lunch account is running low on funds.