The coronavirus pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on families throughout the country. In Georgia, school closures mean that the millions of kids who rely on school meals are at risk for going without the food they’ve depended on during the school year.
When their communities needed them more than ever, schools, food banks, pantries and community organizations all across the state stepped up in incredible ways. Because of them, kids throughout Georgia have remained nourished during the crisis.
These frontline hunger heroes – school nutrition and transportation professionals, community leaders, administrators, teachers, and volunteers – have done everything they can to ensure that kids continue to have access to meals. They’ve worked tirelessly, often for longer shifts and without days off. They’ve also found creative ways to get meals to kids, distributing weekly bags of fresh produce, providing curb-side meal pick-up and even hopping on school buses to deliver meals directly to kids’ homes. These hunger heroes have shown tremendous dedication over the past weeks, all while juggling mounting stress and uncertainty. Check out this week’s heroes below!
Fulton County Schools
When the district closure was first announced, the Fulton County School Nutrition Program knew one of the top priorities included continuing to provide nutritious meals for their students and families. They began working on a food distribution plan for families to pick-up meals at centrally located school sites throughout the district. Fulton County named these feeding sites FoodStop Drive-Thrus, and they provide an opportunity for families to drive through and pick up meals for children in their family. To maximize social distancing, drivers stay in their cars and let staff know how many meals they need for their family. Staff members then place the bagged meals in the trunk or backseat of the car. Walkers are also welcome to walk up and grab a meal to-go. The Fulton County School Nutrition Program provides around 63,000 meals a week to families from the FoodStop Drive-Thrus. In total, they have provided 442,808 total meals to the community since March 16th, and received a lot of praise from the community and families picking up meals.
Cobb County Schools
Staff members at Cobb County Schools are hard at work making sure their students have weekly access to meals. On Mondays, they staff eight drive-thru feeding sites, utilizing two groups of staff members and volunteers from MUST Ministries to handle passing out educational materials and meal kits. In order to keep the risk of exposure lower, volunteers are responsible for interacting with parents and students while teachers and principals assist the volunteers. Nutrition coordinators and site managers coordinate with the nutrition staff in the cafeteria and kitchen to package the meal kits and pass them to the volunteers and staff out front. The meal kits consist of food items with a suggested schedule or menu for consuming the food items. On the back of the weekly suggested menu, things like safe food handling instructions, helpful tips, and item information are covered.
We’re so grateful to all of the amazing people who are hard at work finding new and innovative ways to feed hungry kids while schools are closed. Thank you for everything you do! #ThankAHungerHero
Since the pandemic began, No Kid Hungry Georgia has provided $300,000 in emergency grants to support the work our hunger heroes are doing across the state. This month, we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Throughout May, we’ll be celebrating and lifting up the amazing work that’s been happening across the state by:
- Sharing stories all month long on our social media @NoKidHungryGA
- Highlighting the work of partners, grantees and folks on the ground here on our website so.
JOIN US
We know you have hunger heroes in your community you want to thank too. You can:
- Celebrate your local hunger heroes on social media. To make posting as easy as possible, our team put together this toolkit. Be sure to include #ThankAHungerHero and tag us so we can lift up what you’re sharing!
- On Tuesday, May 26, No Kid Hungry and our state campaigns are coming together for a moment of gratitude. We’ll be thanking hunger heroes all across the country. You can join in by engaging when we thank heroes from Georgia. We’ll be posting across No Kid Hungry’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook on May 14-19 in the lead-up to the big day, so be sure to follow along.
No Kid Hungry Georgia couldn’t be more grateful for each and every one of these individuals and organizations and for all of the hunger heroes on the front lines. Let’s come together to shower them with much-deserved gratitude and appreciation.