Chartwells provides holiday meals to Hot Springs students

Chartwells, the Hot Springs School District’s food service provider, provided holiday bulk meal packages to Hot Springs students and other siblings in their families.

All year long, Chartwells has provided fresh, high-quality food in the district’s cafeterias and at special events within the district and community, and this school year via the #TrojanEats Food Truck for the virtual families, a district spokesman said.

Each bulk meal package included five breakfasts, five lunches, and one half-gallon of milk. In all, some 900 students registered to receive meals through this effort.

“Their innovative idea this holiday to provide bulk meal packages is a continuation of their tireless efforts to serve our students and our families. We are proud to be able to partner with them in keeping our kids fed and healthy through the break,” Adriane Barnes, communications and public relations coordinator for the school district, said in an email on Wednesday.

“Part of providing a well-rounded education is building strong relationships with our students. If we can work to make sure they are as healthy as possible inside our schools and at home, we have a better chance at helping them to experience success with high levels of learning as well,” she said.

The families were required to register to receive the holiday bulk meal packages. All children up to 18 years of age who live in a home of a Hot Springs School District student were qualified to receive free meals.

The families picked up the first round of meal packages on Monday, Dec. 21. The second pickup date was Monday, Dec. 28, from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Families picked up their preordered meal packages from the food loading dock on Emory Street, between the Hot Springs World Class High School and the Hot Springs Junior Academy.

The district worked with

Chartwells to make registration for the holiday bulk meal packages as convenient as possible.

“No one should be hungry over the holidays. This is a simple way to make sure our families have the most basic of needs met when we can’t feed them at our schools,” Barnes said.

“Everything that we do at the Hot Springs School District is centered around the needs of students and families. I am so proud to work with professionals at Chartwells who continually help us identify efficient and effective ways to make sure our families are taken care of inside and outside our schools,” said Hot Springs School District Superintendent Stephanie Nehus.

“I appreciate deeply the Chartwells team and our own team of outstanding Trojan volunteers who have spent many late hours to make this huge holiday effort possible,” she said.