Libby Algiere has a lot to take care of right now, and her resources are running thin.
She has a kindergartner at Benton Elementary School, three students at Hickman High School and a 9-year-old with borderline autism at Parkade Elementary School.
All of these children are learning at home right now.
Algiere cannot work because of her health, and she has access to Medicaid for just one more month. She’s still waiting for an interview to secure food stamps.
She said she doesn’t know what she would do without the Grab-and-Go meal plan through Columbia Public Schools.
“I’m already having to go to the food bank once a week, but they can only give you a certain cart size, no matter what size your family is,” she said.
The meals provided by the school district have been a life-saver for many Columbia families.
They are free and available to all CPS students aged 2 to 18, regardless of income, thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Through June 30, CPS students of any economic status have access to nutritious breakfasts and lunches.
The district has set up nine bus routes and more than 100 bus stops where students can pick up the meals, which are delivered at the same time each weekday. They can also pick up meals directly from the public schools.
Breakfast, for example, might be chocolate muffins, cereal, fruit juice, oranges and yogurt. Lunch might be Mongolian beef and rice, macaroni and cheese, chicken drumsticks, fresh broccoli, apple slices and milk.
Algiere said she is grateful for the program because it is preventing her family from living in a state of extremes.
“It’s literally the only way the kids are really eating during the week,” she said. “Guaranteed.”
Problem on a plate
Fourteen million children are not getting enough to eat during COVID-19, according to a July study from Brookings. Food insecurity occurs when people have trouble affording food and keeping it on the table regularly every month.
COVID-19 first started to affect schools, jobs and extracurriculars in March after students and their parents were told to remain on lockdown.
These actions helped curb the spread of the virus, but it put many people at risk of food insecurity, particularly Black and brown families who might have a harder time accessing food. About 20% of CPS students are Black.
When schools are in session, the free- and reduced-price lunch program helps fill the gap. As of 2016, 14.6 million students nationwide had participated in the federally assisted School Breakfast Program, and 30.4 million students participated in the School Lunch Program.
In Columbia, 47% of the pre-kindergarten through 12th grade student population qualified in public schools for the lunch program during the 2020-2021 school year.
Since the start of the pandemic, however, the number of children getting free meals has declined. Even though every CPS student can get a Grab-and-Go meal, fewer students pick them up than those who qualify for free and reduced lunch.
During the 2020-2021 school year, 8,600 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students qualified for free- and reduced-price lunch. But the district delivered an average of just 6,330 free meals per day when all CPS students were attending school virtually, according to district spokesperson Michelle Baumstark.
Although convenient, some parents and students still find the meal service difficult to procure. People who live outside the established bus routes often must walk or drive to pick up the meals. This means students may have to be excused from online classes or parents might have to leave work to pick up the meals.
To close the gap for some high-need communities, volunteers have been recruited to help deliver the meals.
Jennifer Roberts organized CoMO Lunch Clubs, a still-growing group of retirees, public school parents and neighbors who provide contactless meal service.
Volunteer drivers pick up meals at bus stops and drop them off directly at students’ homes so they don’t have to interrupt their lessons.
On the official Facebook page, Roberts frequently encourages parents to start or join a neighborhood lunch club within the network. The network is currently looking for about 30 more volunteer drivers.
In a promotional video on the organization’s website, Roberts said the program is a great way to help families while building community.
“While our kids are at home on their Zoom classes, some are home alone, some have parents who are working from home and doing double duty … we thought these lunch clubs would help more kids take advantage (of the program),” she said.
‘Lunch fairies’
Tiffany Davis Hughes, mother of a Rock Bridge Elementary School first grader and Gentry Middle School seventh grader, said she and the other CoMo Lunch Club volunteers are like “lunch fairies.”
Davis Hughes joined the club network on behalf of her church, Community United Methodist, to serve families who live outside the boundaries of the district’s bus routes but still need the meals.
“A lot of the lunch clubs seemed to be kind of neighborhood-driven,” she said.
Residents in her own neighborhood have formed another club within the network, Davis Hughes said.
“I thought there were probably a lot of neighborhoods in the community that don’t have the volunteer base to be able to support a program like that. We thought maybe we could fill that gap,” she said.
The most rewarding aspect of delivering meals is knowing that she belongs to a group helping families who need it. The district’s free service is not income- or need-based, so all children aged 2 to 18 can receive the meals.
“It’s rewarding to know that we’re able to help families out, so that they don’t have to worry about ‘What am I going to make for lunch today?’,” Davis Hughes said. “They don’t have to worry about finding time to go and meet the bus.”
The window is tight, she said, about 15 minutes at each stop. Those who miss it must track down the bus at the next stop.
“This is just a way for us to make things easier,” she said.
It’s not just lunch club volunteers alleviating mealtime stress during COVID-19.
Grade A Plus, an academic support and youth enrichment program, partnered with the Boys and Girls Club, Bleu Events and Central Missouri Humane Society last summer to deliver 160 meals, 77 food boxes and three-dozen 50-pound bags of pet food.
Janice Dawson-Threat, director of Grade A Plus, said her organization delivered meals twice a week from April 3 to Aug. 7. Pickup and delivery continued through August to families who signed up for the food bank assistance.
For Algiere, meal pickups are flexible and convenient. She can make a stop on her way home from running errands, and her high schoolers can walk to their stop between classes.
Even though the Grab-and-Go program has significantly improved her life, Algiere cited some inconsistencies. Her children might get less milk than expected, she said, or an item has expired, or a piece of fruit has a bit of mold.
She understands that the the district must assemble and deliver many meals every day in a short amount of time, so she spices up the meals and gives them more flavor. Barbecue sauce can “cover a world of unflavored food,” she said.
Meal planning
During this unpredictable year, the district and the Grab-and-Go program have faced a series of challenges.
The meal delivery program experienced its own set of upheavals. On Oct. 27, the district temporarily suspended two Grab-and-Go meal delivery routes in northeast Columbia because of illness-related staffing issues.
These temporarily suspended routes serve Battle High School where half the student population was eligible for the free- and reduced-price lunch program during the 2019-2020 school year.
Students could still pick up food at another bus stop or from the school directly although suspended routes have since reopened.
The district will deliver meals until school is closed for winter break Dec. 23 to Jan. 4. Then, the current routes will end Jan. 18, and meal delivery plans for next semester are scheduled to be announced in early January.
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December 13, 2020 at 07:00PM
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CPS — with help from volunteers — works to feed families during pandemic - Columbia Missourian
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