Yuma Sun

YUHSD adds meal delivery routes

Increases student access to free meals during distance learning

- BY RACHEL ESTES SUN STAFF WRITER

To increase student access to no-cost nutrition services while Yuma Union High School District remains in a distance learning format, the district’s student nutrition and transporta­tion department­s have partnered to establish three delivery routes comprising some of the major bus stops within district boundaries.

The routes cover ground in Yuma, Somerton and San Luis and are in addition to the distributi­on sites at the district’s six campuses, where grab-andgo breakfasts and lunches are served in a drive-thru format from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each weekday.

Meal services are paused for the remainder of this week in observance of Thanksgivi­ng break and will resume Monday when students return to class via online learning.

Per the provisions of the U.S. Department of Agricultur­e (USDA) and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), the services are available to all children age 18 and younger.

From 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., children can pick up the day’s meals at the corner of South Jojoba Avenue and East 42nd Lane in Yuma, the corner of South Somerton Avenue and West Fern Street in Somerton, or the corner of East Monreal Lane and Christian Avenue in San Luis.

From 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., meals are available for pick-up at the corner of North Council Avenue and Jefferson Street in Somerton and the corner of David Riedel Boulevard and North Garcia Boulevard in San Luis.

YUHSD activated meal delivery services along some of the same routes in August, when the district began the 2020-2021 school year in a remote learning format; the services suspended in September when the district transition­ed to hybrid learning.

“That really helps us get the food to the community to meet them where they are,” Grace Pruit, the district’s director of student nutrition services, told the Yuma Sun in August. “One of the barriers for our students is transporta­tion. We do have a lot of students that participat­e in our transporta­tion services when we’re in normal session, so we knew that was a barrier for our participat­ion numbers and getting the food to the students.”

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