Area schools, community organizations offering free lunches for students

Area students have been able to look forward to a meal thanks to area schools and community resources.

In the Washington Community School District, 32,928 meals were provided from March 23-May 29 according to superintendent Willie Stone. Every Monday the district passes out two sack lunches to students and on Wednesdays, three.

'We send out a form every time, collect that data then get the food to the parents and the kids that need it,” he said.

All food is prepared by staff cooks and a few volunteers, he said. The district has previously offered lunches for students but increased the number of sites after seeing a need. Previously, the district fed a maximum of 300 students per day. Now, anywhere form 650-750 students are receiving meals, he said.

'We're serving another 350-450 kids,” he said.

Stone said he feels the increase is partly due to adding more sites and also loosening restrictions on means. In years past, students were required to be present to pickup the meals. Now parents are able to pickup meals for students and delivery is being offered for those in rural areas.

'If we have kids that are in the country, they can sign up and we deliver directly to their house,” he said.

The program will continue through the end of July and hopefully into the first part of August, he said. The district will have to stop the lunch program for a bit in August while staff deep cleans and sanitizes the lunch rooms to prepare for students returning to school.

The lunch program is open to all students in the area ages one to 18 and must be able to eat solid foods. A sign-up form is available on the district website. Deliveries are available only to those who live within the district boundaries.

Following a successful sack lunch program during school closures, the Mt. Pleasant Community School District will be handing off summer lunch duties to local nonprofit, the Fellowship Cup.

Sheryl Wilson, manager of the district's Food Services department, said her staff served an average of 250 lunches a day from March 16 to May 29. Wilson explained the district has not done the summer lunch program because the Fellowship Cup has offered a similar program for at least 15 years.

'I'm really thankful they offer this program - without it, some families would go without a meal. Everybody benefits from it,” the food services manager said.

Ken Brown, executive director of the Fellowship Cup, said their summer lunch program began June 1. In light of social distancing and other health measures to address the coronavirus pandemic, instead of offering daily lunches, the nonprofit is instead assembling weekly boxes for families to take home and assemble lunches themselves.

The boxes are available for pickup every Monday at the Fellowship Cup from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The nonprofit also delivers to families who live in the outer parts of the county including Salem and New London. Because the boxes include a weeks' worth of food, the nonprofit is asking an adult to pick up the supplies.

'We had 100% turnout. I've never had that before.” Brown said of the first week's boxes, 'Usually people would sign up and a small percentage would never pick up their lunches. I think this is good.”

In their first week, the nonprofit served 72 kids, which grew to 100 by the second. Brown said the sign ups usually start slow but at its peak, the organization usually serves 180 kids a day for up to 12 weeks during the summer.

'It's for kids in Henry County. There's nothing as far as qualifying - it's not income based. If they sign up and live in Henry County, we're going to serve them,” Brown said.

For those interested in donating items to the nonprofit for the program, Brown said the Fellowship has the greatest need for juice pouches, snack items, fruit cups and pre-prepared lunch items like Uncrustables.

Fairfield Community School District students have the opportunity for a grab-and-go lunch this year. District Food Service Director Stephanie Hawkins said this has been done in the past but as a community meal.

'Because of COVID-19 it looks a little different,” she said.

Due to restrictions put in place because of the virus, the district has modified the plan. Hawkins said students ages 2-18 are eligible for the free meal at four locations in town: Fairfield Middle School, Washington Elementary, Fairfield High School and Lincoln Center.

On Mondays students receive a breakfast and lunch for three days and on Thursdays a breakfast and lunch for two days. The district has been consistently serving about 500 students each time, she said.

Students can sign-up on the district website, but that is not required, she said. The program will continue until July 31 and is available to all students in need.

'We can provide breakfast and lunch for kids and it's something parents don't have to worry about planning for. That's why we're here,” she said.