Woodard students now eligible for free meals via Provision 2

Students attending R. Pete Woodard Junior High School are now eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch as the school’s cafeteria is now operating under Provision 2, an alternative set of school meal regulations afforded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

According to the USDA, all students attending a Provision 2 school are provided free meals for a 4-year period, regardless of their free, reduced-price or paid eligibility category.

Woodard is one of nine Yuma School District One campuses operating under Provision 2, joining Fourth Avenue and Gila Vista Junior High Schools and G.W. Carver, C.W. McGraw, O.C. Johnson, Palmcroft, Pecan Grove and Roosevelt Elementary Schools.

“This is going to be helpful because we’ve had some families that had a student that went to O.C. Johnson and a student that went to Woodard, and at O.C. Johnson they were getting free meals but when they went to Woodard, they weren’t,” said District One Child Nutrition Director Lisa Thrower. “It makes things easier, and it’s just a proven fact that when families don’t have to worry about paying for the meals, they’re more likely to come out to receive those meals. Hopefully one day all (District One) students will be eating for free, but right now it’s only nine of our schools.”

During remote learning, grab-and-go meals are available Mondays-Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at all District One cafeterias, with the exception of Otondo Elementary, Gila Vista Junior High and Ron Watson Middle Schools, which are operating out of neighboring Castle Dome Middle, McGraw and Sunrise Elementary Schools, respectively.

According to Thrower, students do not need to be present to receive a meal; their parent or guardian is able to procure them simply by giving their child’s name or PIN number in the pick-up line to verify that they attend a District One school.

If they’ve not yet done so, Thrower urges families to complete a meal application as soon as possible at family.titank12.com. These applications will determine their eligibility for free, reduced-price ($0.40) or paid ($1.50) school lunches.