Comfort food
“Just to take care of our students, for them to know that we are here, for them to understand that on a regular basis, when we’re out of school, we were usually always here feeding them during the summer, so to have that reassurance that we are still here for them, making sure that they have their breakfast and lunch provided for them, hopefully (that) gives them some comfort,” she said.
Ridgeland and LaFayette high schools are the primary staging areas for the food distribution operation with pickups scheduled from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
on Mondays and Thursdays. To make things for convenient for families in other parts of the county, school vans are loaded up with orders and then transported to other locations in the county for pick-up.
Walker County School System is a designated provider, also serving students from Chickamauga City Schools}
Chickamauga students in need of food are advised to go to Cherokee Ridge Elementary, and a couple of local restaurants are also offering meals to Chickamauga students in need at Choo Choo BBQ and McDonalds, Chickamauga Schools Superintendent Melody Day said.
Families were asked to sign-up with online forms, prior to Spring Break, in order to help eliminate wasted food and to provide an accurate count of the number of meals that need to be transported to each of the different pick-up sites in the county.
The school system has asked that those who did not sign-up, but need food pick-ups, to call the Walker County Schools Nutrition office at 706-638-7969 to register. A pick-up time and site in the county will be assigned at that point.
The twice-weekly food packages contains individual breakfasts and lunches for each student for a sevenday period, all following nutritional requirements and guidelines set by the state. Approximately 20,000 meals have already been prepared, packaged and handed out since mid-March.
Tarvin said the volunteers come in around 6 a.m. on distribution days to start.
“We come in and prepare the vegetables and fruits, get them washed up and do whatever our regular practices are,” she explained. “We go by our sign-up lists for each family and we prepare the meals in sacks. We usually put our breakfasts in one sack and lunches in different sacks, so when they are handed out, each student gets their breakfasts and their lunches for the week.”
Tarvin said a typical lunch would include a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a serving of fruit or vegetables, which could be carrot or broccoli dippers with ranch dressing, a whole piece of fruit or juice. A grain is also provided to meet state requirements, while cold items, such as milk, yogurt or string cheese, are packaged separately from the rest of the food.
She also stressed that stringent hygiene and safety protocols are in place for all volunteers.
“We’ve always required hand-washing as it’s very strict in food service anyway,” she added. “We’re wearing masks and gloves to prepare each meal and (with) any type of change that we do, we change our gloves. We’re definitely staying six feet apart and (there can be) no more than 10 people in the building (at one time).”
Ridgeland High School Principal Karen Hughes is one of the many volunteers in the county that have been there since the program began, helping to distribute food and even helping to personally deliver it on buses in the early days of the shutdown.
“Our food maintenance has been phenomenal, as has been the amount of volunteers that have been there working our pick-up sites and trying to provide for our communities,” she said. “(It feels good) just know that we’re filling a need for our community. We’re now to the point of sheltering in place and the buses are no longer running, but we’re still able to provide pick-up times two days a week for (students) to get multiple days of breakfasts and lunches.
“I love serving and doing what I’m supposed to do. These are definitely uncertain times, but we’re all called to do what is best,” she said.
Other community meal pickup locations are Lookout Mountain at Fairyland Elementary School, LaFayette at LaFayette High School, Rossville and Flintstone at Ridgeland High School, Wallaceville and Chickamauga at Cherokee Ridge Elementary School, Rock Spring at Peavine Baptist Church, Villanow at Armuchee Community Center and Pigeon Mountain at Pigeon Mountain Grill.