Following a weekend of snow, Radford schools were closed nearly all week. Sounds like fun, but that’s bad news for many students and parents, since no school means no hot, nutritionally balanced lunch for the day.
Donna Toney, cafeteria worker, Erin Boyd, nutrition manager, Connie Wood, director of school nutrition and Shirley Britt, cafeteria worker, in a festive kitty Santa top serve hot pizza, fruit and a provide warm place to spend a cold day, but transportation
To fill that need, Radford Director of Nutrition, Connie Wood, opens McHarg Elementary School as a “warming station” from noon to 2 p.m. on all snow days.
It’s cheese or pepperoni pizza for lunch Tuesday, corn, baby carrots and the fruit is apples and strawberries, but despite the school being open for all Radford students under 18, few kids have arrived.
“It could be people are at work and their children are at baby sitters, but a message went out to everybody on Power School [the school messaging system]. Everybody received a message yesterday if they have a contact email address or phone with the school system,” Wood said. ““I would love to be able to feed 75 to 100 kids. You have so many people who don’t have the transportation to get here,” Wood said.
This week, the school fed 23 children on Tuesday, and 9 children Wednesday, holding a warming station and meals for children on Thursday also. They delivered four meals on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. Then later in the week, when the roads were clearer, participation was not high, but the need is great.
“This is our second year doing this,” McHarg Principal Mike Brown said. “We have a pretty substantial free and reduced lunch rate division wide. Here it’s 54-55 percent and we have the littlest kids in our school,” he said.
McHarg is a central area for the community to access.
“We started it last year and it was a huge success. Mr. Graham [Superintendent Rob Graham] wanted to continue it this year. Not only can they come in and get a hot meal and warm up, but we also deliver meals to families that can’t make it in.”
Wood agrees.
“Even if we only feed 20 or 30 kids, that’s 20 or 30 kids we know that didn’t go hungry,” Wood said standing with cafeteria ladies talking about Christmas in the warm cafeteria that smells like hot pizza in the big metal warmer.
In addition to transportation bringing kids to the food, juggling funding to bring food to the kids is another challenge
“Mostly they’re all kids,” she said. “We’ll be able to claim the kids. Last year we did it and we used only USDA food: chicken fajita and broccoli and USDA cheese. This year, we’re able, because we applied for it, we’re able to use purchased foods also.”
Wood applied for, and got, a grant to orchestrate a summer-long mobile Read and Feed lunch coordinated with the Radford Public Library effort to bring lunches and books to kids who miss them when school is out and the kids can’t get to the city’s schools and library where they are being served.
McHarg Elementary School was chosen as a warming station for its central, walkable location.
Montgomery County schools don’t provide warming station schools on snow days because schools are often difficult to reach on foot or a short drive.
“Schools that are located in areas that most students must ride a bus to attend, are not as likely to offer this service. If snow/weather closes schools, it is unlikely that families will get in a vehicle to go to a school for a hot meal,” Michael Marcenelle, director of nutrition at Montgomery County schools.
Wood sees transportation as a key obstacle.
“I wish we could go to each apartment complex like we do in the summer, you just can’t get buses in there because of the snow. You can’t even pull over on the side of the road where I travel.”
In the City of Radford, food insecurity affects 21 percent of kids and grownups according to 2017 Feeding America data, Montgomery County is around 15 percent, the national rate is 12 percent.
That doesn’t surprise Wood. She points out that Radford City schools provide free and reduced-price meals to 48 percent of the children district wide.
“The role of a school system has really expanded over the years to include things like this,” Principal Brown said. “Historically, schools are the center-point of a community and being the focus or center of a community we’re able to assist more than we used to. It allows us to help some of our families that may need it,” Brown said.