As students continue to be out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, districts are working to keep up with providing them free meals.
Dixie Harden, Poplar Bluff R-I Chartwells director of dining services, said the number of meals picked up is continuing to increase.
On Friday, 883 breakfasts and lunches were handed out, which brought the week up to 6,500 total meals serves for the week. On Monday, 1,265 of each meal were picked up.
Those numbers were before the district expanded the program to include six buses delivering meals on top of the nine locations used last week.
Harden said they estimated numbers for the buses based on phone calls from Friday and Monday.
“We were overwhelmed,” she said. “But we went ahead and ran the stops so that people would know we will be there.”
Harden said she expects the number of meals delivered will continue to increase while the break lasts. She said she expects to see it reach at least 1,500 if not 2,000 a day at some point.
The meals are available for anybody under the age of 18.
In the Neelyville R-IV school district, Superintendent Debra Parish said the most meals they’ve had picked up was 83 in a day. The district is also offering both breakfast and lunch. It is held every day at the school campuses from 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Parish said families can still register for pick up by calling her office at 573-989-3813 ext. 236. If a family has concerns or issues with coming to pick up the meals, Parish said that’s something they can discuss. The district has volunteers making deliveries to the families who need it.
Twin Rivers R-X School District has partnered with the Broseley Nutrition Center from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Superintendent Jeremy Seibert said about 175 meals were picked up on Tuesday from the center. The meals are paid for by the school and will be offered as long as the break lasts.
Dr. Jeff Davis, Van Buren R-I superintendent, said their program is feeding 200-300 students a day through a bus route system.
Davis said that delivery method allows them to at least see the students during this time, while still practicing social distancing. The district plans to continue delivering meals for as long as the break goes.
C.A. Counts, Dexter R-XI superintendent, said their meal program is servicing about a quarter of the district’s population with about 500 breakfasts and lunches served a day.
With each day, the students pick up a lunch for that day and breakfast for the following one.
“They’re getting two of their three meals with each delivery,” Counts said.
The district has one kitchen running at Central Elementary School to make the meals. Parents can pick them up there or at one of seven locations around town. Counts said they’re trying to reach as many students as possible.
“We’re trying to kind of scatter them throughout the city and we’re running a bus to Dudley for our students there,” he said. “So, we’re trying to accommodate as many people as we can during that time.”
Counts said they’re planning to offer the service “as long as the health department will allow us.”
“We’re going to do it as long as we can,” he said. “This is the first for everyone dealing with a pandemic. We just take our guidance strongly from the health department. So if it would get to a point where there’s too much sickness or there’s a greater chance of us passing it on even more, we would shut it down, but we will work with the health department.”
Doniphan R-I Superintendent Brad Hagood said the district’s program has gotten off to a successful start. Hagood said 221 meals were provided during the first day, March 23, and the number grew to 281 on the second day.
“The number keeps climbing and we still continue to get calls,” he said.
Starting Tuesday, the district will move to providing meals twice a week rather than the current daily. Pick-up will be at the elementary cafeteria from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. and delivery will be from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week through May 1. On these days, meals breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided for the days in between each delivery day. For instance, on Tuesdays, students would receive meals for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Additional reporting by Ron Smith with The Prospect-News