Fresno Unified school meals continue to be served in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic

Most of us remember our schools as the place where we learned to read and write and a lot more. And schools are where we learned to play sports and go to the prom and make early, good friends. But few of us realize the role schools played in providing us with the food and drink we needed to learn and thrive and be healthy.

And during these COVID-19 days, the nutrition our schools are serving is helping students and their families make it through these tough times.

Our schools have risen to these extraordinary challenges by imagining how to serve school meals and snacks to students who can’t come to school — and then risking their staff’s safety to put this entirely new food service into place. I only know in any detail what Fresno Unified School District is doing because that is where I have had the privilege to serve as a board member for nearly two years now. But I know that many other school districts throughout the Valley are doing an equally heroic job of nourishing their students.

For example: in one neighboring district, school board members are volunteering to help pass out meals at grab-n-go pickup spots. What a powerful message that sends. I’ve been very rewarded in joining staff in meal distributions as well.

In our school district, we are furnishing at no charge breakfast and lunch every day to every student. We have designated spots where parents can come safely to pick up the meals. Pickup locations have been chosen for parents’ proximity; pickup times have been selected to accommodate parents with long workdays, such as farm workers. Community partners, such as the Central California Food Bank and others, are taking advantage of the pickup spots to offer additional free food and other information and services that struggling families can use.

Not only are the meals a healthy resource, but not having to pay for breakfast and lunch for each of their school-aged children stretches families’ food budgets for the rest of their meals. And school meals, containing plenty of Valley produce, represent a huge market for local growers and farm workers. School meals are a win-win for children, families and the community.

Our experience in Fresno Unified since the schools closed in March is that this food service runs at a loss. All of my fellow school board members and our superintendent have accepted this deficit because we understand the indispensable role that our food is playing for children whose families are increasingly becoming unemployed or being forced to close their small businesses. Our children come first.

Fortunately, the new California budget sets aside $110 million to help school districts cover at least some of these excess, COVID-19 related expenses. Send a message of thanks to the governor, your state senator and Assemblymember for targeting school food departments for scarce state funds.

Also, the HEROES Act, the next COVID-19 stimulus bill, which passed the House and is waiting for the Senate, contains funds for schools to backfill their food service losses. Let the president and our senators know how important these funds are for all our kids, particularly those from low-income families.

At Fresno Unified we have stretched our food service to operate throughout the summer vacation, from end to end. While we don’t know exactly how the district’s schools will operate this fall — all on campus, all remote, some of each — we do know that food service will continue to be indispensable for our students and their families. Whatever configuration our schools adopt, we will be there with school food to keep our kids healthy and ready to learn. Hats off to our food service workers in Fresno Unified and in all the Valley districts, which have seized this remarkable challenge.