During the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures have affected all of our youngest Hoosiers, but in particular the millions of kids who rely on free and reduced-price meals. Without school meals, many of those kids are at risk of going hungry.
Luckily when school closures began in mid-March, school districts, food banks, and community organizations rushed to ensure the millions of Indiana kids who rely on school meals continue to have a healthy and reliable source of nutrition.
This month, we’d like to give a Big Thank You to the food and nutrition staff across the state working to ensure kids and families in their community stay strong, healthy, and nourished. In a time of great uncertainty, these heroes make certain that students can count on healthy meals.
This week we’d like to highlight the Monroe County area and Beech Grove City Schools that are working hard to feed kids during this difficult time.
- Monroe County Community School Corporation: With school buildings closed for the year across Indiana and unemployment skyrocketing due to the pandemic, we know many families may be struggling to make sure their kids are fed. Vickie Coffey, director of nutrition services and healthy schools, tells us that the need is growing for meals in their more rural community. If parents are working during the day or the people at home don’t have their own transportation it can be difficult to make it to their weekly meal pickups. That’s why the district is bringing the food to some of their neighborhoods most in need right now, using their healthy food truck. 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!
- Beech Grove City Schools: When Beech Grove City Schools learned they were going to have to close in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, the superintendent, head of dining services, and staffers moved quickly to ensure their community still had access to food. With curbside pick-up-sites at schools across the city, mobile feeding sites, and deliveries available on 3 bus routes, the child nutrition staff are ensuring that even kids in the most rural parts of town have access to breakfast and lunch. In fact, Beech Grove City Schools staff served over 24,000 meals in their first three weeks of service!
In difficult times, heroes emerge. To us, each and every child nutrition staff member is a Hunger Hero! You too can be a Hunger Hero by sharing No Kid Hungry’s texting hotline to make sure families in your community know these meals are available. Encourage parents and caretakers to text the word FOOD or COMIDA to 877-877 to find their nearest meal sites.