MSD Wayne Provides Meals for Students Learning at Home
How do you continue to provide needed meals for students who are learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic? The MSD of Wayne Township Child Nutrition Services Department has found a way.
“We believe that an important part of academic success is having a healthy breakfast and lunch each day, no matter where a student is learning,” said MSD Wayne Child Nutrition Services Director Sara Gasiorowski. “We want to make sure all of our students have access to healthy, nutritious meals throughout the week.”
Each Friday, Mrs. Gasiorowski’s team distributes meals at Ben Davis High School and Lynhurst 7th & 8th Grade Center. They’ve assembled enough meals to provide five days of breakfast and lunch for each Wayne@Home (full-time virtual) student, and three days of breakfast and lunch for students in the district’s hybrid program (learning both at school and at home). Parents may drive through and pick up their children’s meals from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 3-5 p.m. on Fridays.
It takes a lot of work to prepare for this distribution. Over the course of the week, 35-40 staff members assist with the program.
“Packing the meal bags is truly a team effort,” said Mrs. Gasiorowski. Child nutrition employees from Ben Davis University High School, Chapel Hill 7th & 8th Grade Center, and the Ben Davis Ninth Grade Center help pack the items that come off the shelf. They also package entree items that are not individually wrapped, such as chicken tenders and dinner rolls.
“On Thursdays, the ‘cold’ bags are packed and then Friday morning, the ‘freezer’ bags are packed,” said Mrs. Gasiorowski. “Shortly before meal pickup begins, the dry, cooler, and freezer bags are combined into one large bag and then packed in insulated coolers to maintain the food at the proper temperature.”
Beginning with the 2019-20 school year, breakfast and lunch became available at no cost for all students in MSD Wayne through U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Program.
Mrs. Gasiorowski says the meal distribution effort means that none of MSD Wayne’s students need to go hungry while they’re learning, even if they’re learning at home: “We want to make sure all of our students have access to healthy, nutritious meals throughout the week.”
For more information on MSD Wayne’s Child Nutrition Program, visit https://childnutritionservices.wayne.k12.in.us/.
ABOUT THE MSD OF WAYNE TOWNSHIP
The Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township provides multiple pathways to success for more than 16,000 students, preschool through high school. Located on the west side of Indianapolis, MSD Wayne works in partnership with the Wayne Township community to help every learner achieve excellence. To learn more about MSD Wayne, visit www.wayne.k12.in.us, or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/msdwaynetownship/ and Twitter @WayneTwpSchools and @WayneTwpSuper.
