Just a few days into the state-mandated school closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, local districts have served hundreds of meals to students around the county.
According to a Facebook post by Washington Court House City Schools on Tuesday, in its second day the Big Blue Bus Emergency Food Service Program served 1,082 meals to kids across the community.
“That’s 1/29th of our county’s population,” the post said. “Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to make this program such a success so quickly. We understand that some of our stop times are not exactly as published. We remind all that those times are approximate, and subject to change. We appreciate your patience as our teams work their way through town to feed our kids during the unprecedented situation.”
Additionally, three new locations were added for a total of 228 stops that students can visit to receive a “free, healthy, and hot” lunch; Rose Avenue, Kroger and South Side Church of Christ. For a full list of locations check https://www.facebook.com/WCHCS/posts/3060938423958428?.
Miami Trace Local Schools Superintendent David Lewis said Wednesday he’s very proud of his staff for stepping up to help feed the children of the community during these tough times. For the first day, around 175 students were served two breakfasts (one for Thursday and one for Friday) and two lunches (one for Wednesday and one for Thursday) each.
“We have had a lot of people put a lot of time and effort into this,” Lewis said. “Whether it was today with distributing meals or working behind the scenes, it has taken a lot of people involved in this process. It has been great, we have had bus drivers, administrators, teachers, aides, custodians, you name it, pretty much everyone has been involved so it has been nice. We told all of our staff to be on call in case they are needed, and are taking it day-by-day, but everyone coming in for food service has been on a volunteer basis. We are just waiting to hear if we are coming back on April 6th or if we are going to be out longer.”
Lewis said the district office has been open all week so far and they plan on being open the rest of the week. With the official start of the district’s spring break next week though, Lewis said they will not have as many people around the district. One thing he confirmed though is that they plan to continue to serve lunches next week and will re-evaluate at the end of this week to ensure they are staying efficient with the meals.
“It is better in our opinion to be more overly-prepared than underprepared,” Lewis said. “I would continue to encourage everyone to check the district website and Facebook page because that is where we will be sharing information. I know we have had volunteers from the community, and anyone with a student we want to encourage them to take advantage of this. The schedule is online and we are going to stick with that. So please take advantage of it. We are here to help our students through this.”
Lewis announced the district meal program earlier this week that will occur from March 18 through April 3. All meals will be distributed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and breakfast and lunches will be provided each day. The following locations will be used for Miami Trace meal deliveries; Jeffersonville (Shelter House) from 11-11:30 a.m., Bloomingburg (Dollar General Parking Lot) from 12-12:30 p.m., New Holland (Fire Department) from 11-11:30 a.m., Good Hope Church from 12-12:30 p.m., Miami Trace Stadium Parking Lot (pick up by concession stand area) from 11-11:30 a.m., Staunton Ball Fields from 12-12:30 p.m. and Rawling Street and Delaware Street in Washington Court House (Old Carlton Manor) from 11:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
The information in this article was provided by Washington Court House City Schools and Miami Trace Superintendent David Lewis. Stay with the Record-Herald for more updates in a future edition of the paper or online at www.recordherald.com.
Reach Martin Graham at (740) 313-0351 or on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy
