STRATTANVILLE, Pa., (EYT) – Clarion-Limestone students may be headed to the bus stop again in the coming weeks.
Students won’t be getting on the bus to go to school, but they will be getting breakfast and lunch delivered from the school cafeteria.
Food Service Director Rachel McConnell told exploreClarion.com that the school secured a $20,000 grant to deliver the meals.
“We felt that with the closure of schools because of COVID-19, there were a lot of students who had some barriers to transportation. We felt that we needed to be able to supply meals to the students who may not be able to get to the school to get those meals,” she said.
The grant allocation comes from No Kid Hungry, a national campaign run by Share Our Strength, a nonprofit working to solve problems of hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.
McConnell said the district will use vans through their busing contractors to deliver meals. Residents from ages two to 18 are eligible to receive meals.
It is possible to make accommodations for students who may currently be living at a location that is not near their regular bus stop.
On Mondays and Thursdays, students will get a bag containing breakfast and lunch for three days. Meals will adhere to the USDA’s National School Lunch Program nutrition guidelines.
Delivery will begin at 11:00 a.m., and McConnell estimated they will be completed by 12:30 p.m.
“We have some processes and procedures in place to ensure that we’re following the CDC recommended guidelines for social distancing,” McConnell explained. “We’re making sure that we’re not creating any sort of large group and that we’re not gathering for very long.
“We’ll just drop off the meals and go so that we aren’t coming in close contact with the students or the parents. We’ll be having protective equipment available for all of our drivers and volunteers.”
Families began receiving phone calls on March 30 about the availability of the meals.
“We made the calls to have some idea of roughly what we’ll need and what bus stops we will need to go to,” McConnell said.
Final numbers are still being compiled, but indications are that the meal delivery concept was well received.
Since Governor Wolf has ordered that schools remain closed indefinitely, the district will continue delivering meals as long as possible, according to McConnell.
The cafeteria already has a good supply of food, and the district is still able to take delivery of food from its regular suppliers.
During delivery, items such as milk will be in coolers.
Each meal will also contain food safety guidelines.
“We have an education sheet about food safety that will go into each bag,” McConnell explained. “It will remind them that if they have leftovers, they can only be kept three days. Anything that is cold needs to go into the refrigerator right away when they get those bags home.”
Residents who would like to sign up for meal delivery, or cancel it, should call the school business office at 814-764-5111, ext. 311.
Meals will continue to be available for pick-up at the school from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Overall, McConnell said families seem to appreciate the option of having meals delivered.
“Even those who said that this isn’t something that they need right now seemed to be very appreciative of the effort.”
