Local schools to provide free meals to students during COVID-19 shut down
Charm Carpenter
The Red Oak Express
The Red Oak Community School district and Taher are offering a pickup/drive thru site at Inman Elementary during the school closure. All children 18 years old and under can participate in this program.
The program runs from Monday, March 23 through Thursday, April 9, upon which time it will be reassessed and if schools are back in session, the program will be discontinued.
Adults are asked to line up as if dropping off or picking up children at Inman Elementary. A member of the Red Oak administration will hand out the bags after the adult signs who they are picking up food for, to eliminate duplicate meals (as in the case of a parent and a daycare provider picking up food).
Pickup time begins at 7:30 and runs through 8:30 a.m. or until bags run out. A second distribution will run from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., both Monday and Thursday.
Monday’s pickup will include breakfast, lunch and two snacks per day for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday’s pickup will include breakfast, lunch and two snacks per day for Thursday and Friday. They will also be sending home the backpack program bags on Thursday for children to have over the weekend.
“We will be making 200 bags for the pickup on Monday,” food service director Mindy Riibe said. “If we were to run out of bags at our first pickup time, we would then prep more for the afternoon pickup. If we were to prep too many and not get rid of them all on Monday, we would then offer a pickup the following day at the same stated times, and will communicate that with the public as needed. Please bear with us as we strive to meet the needs of all. We will continue to monitor our needs and prep as much as we can.”
Riibe assures everyone that she and nine of her employees will be in the kitchens at a time and will ensure all employees are not showing signs of illness. The kitchens have been equipped with hygiene stations which include tissues, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and gloves.
The Southwest Valley school district is offering a free hot lunch available to students for curbside pickup. To order, a parent needs to call or text 641-418-0952 or email lunch@southwestvalley.org. The children need to be registered by 8 a.m. of each morning, and the lunch is available for all Southwest Valley students ages 18 years or younger.
Pickup began Tuesday, March 17 at Villisca Enarson Elementary and the main entrance of Corning Elementary or Southwest Valley Middle School.
According to Katie Elwood, middle school and high school principal of Griswold, the school is coordinating a meal pickup at the Griswold Lutheran Church from 10 to 11 a.m. Students will receive five breakfasts and five lunches for the week on Monday. The program began Monday, March 23.
According to David Gute, Stanton superintendent, the district is currently working on an application through the USDA to help the school provide meals to any student that needs one.
“We hope to have approval and start the service sometime this week,” Gute said.