Meeting the need: Modesto schools feeding thousands of kids during coronavirus
For about the past month, parents and grandparents in cars, minivans, SUVs and pickups have lined up at 15 Modesto City Schools campuses to pick up breakfast and lunch for their children since the district closed its schools because of the pandemic.
The school district is providing about 15,000 to 16,000 meals each weekday, divided equally into breakfast and lunch. Kids can get such fare as granola bars with fresh fruit and milk for breakfast and turkey and cheese sandwiches with fresh fruit, carrot sticks and milk for lunch.
Several parents and grandparents told The Bee they appreciate the meals because it’s one less thing for them to do as they contend with kids stuck at home. It also means fewer trips to the grocery store, where social distancing can be difficult. Parents and grandparents who bring their kids said the trips are safe outings and break up the boredom of being at home.
But for other families the food helps as they deal with layoffs, reduced hours at work and other financial pain from the stay-at-home orders, business closures and other measures taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Karen Quinonez was among the parents and grandparents picking up meals at Burbank Elementary School in west Modesto on Thursday. (The school district employees handed the bags of food to people waiting in their cars.)
Quinonez was picking up breakfasts and lunches for her three grandchildren. The children’s other grandmother, Tammy Boyle, also was in the car. The two help raise the kids.
Quinonez said her son is a single dad, commutes to his job in the Bay Area as a diesel mechanic and money already was stretched tight before the pandemic. She said since then her son’s hours have been cut because his company cannot get all the parts it needs because its supply chain has been disrupted.
“My son is a single father,” Quinonez said. “He’s got kids, rent, PG&E, water and garbage plus clothes and shoes.“
Modesto City Schools program
Modesto City Schools Nutrition Services Senior Director Criss Atwell said the meals are a continuation of what the school district does when kids are in class. He said the district serves about 26,000 meals each day when school is in session.
But he said the meals now being served should not be compared to that. He said a better comparison is with the district’s summer meal program in which it provides lunch to children in parks when school is out. He said that program serves about 2,000 lunches on a typical summer weekday.
“We are way up compared to what we do in the parks,” Atwell said. “Clearly, there is a need for our students when you look at the layoffs and other effects on the community. ... These meals allow them (families) to focus on dinner, and we can meet the needs for breakfast and lunch.”
The meals started March 19 at 15 campuses, from elementary to high school, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Atwell said the meals will continue for as long as the schools are closed. He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture with help from the state is funding the program.
All Modesto-area districts can provide food
He said every school district in California can provide meals, and he said the majority of local districts are providing food to their students during the pandemic.
Atwell said he appreciates how the Modesto school district’s employees have pulled together in response to a community need. “They have done a great job,” he said, adding the employees have come from nutrition services with help from custodial and security employees.
Quinonez said her grandkids really look forward to the meals because it reminds them of what life was like before the pandemic when they went to school and saw their teachers and friends. The meals are healthy and tasty and her grandkids make a game out of guessing what food she will bring home. “It’s just really nice for the kids,” she said.
Parent and grandparents — and in some cases students — were lined up at Johansen High School on Thursday in east Modesto for the meals.
An 18-year-old Johansen student was picking up meals for herself and her three younger siblings. She said the food is important because their mom has been laid off from her job as a house cleaner and her dad expects to be laid off from his job as a painter.
“It’s a help,” the teenager said. “My mom is not working. My dad ... they keep telling him he is going to stop working. So it’s a little help.”
Helps with young girl’s anxiety
Modesto resident Victor Esparza said the meals made a big difference when he and his live-in girlfriend had their hours cut at the warehouse where they work. He said they both recently went back to full time.
“This helped us huge when we had our hours reduced,” he said.
Esparza was picking up breakfasts and lunches for his girlfriend’s two daughters, who came along with him. He said the trip helped relieve the boredom and distress the daughters — ages 3 and 8 — feel having to stay at home under circumstances they struggle to comprehend.
“The 8-year-old has anxiety issues,” Esparza said. “She doesn’t understand why she cannot go to school, why everyone is sick, and we cannot go out in public. So the little trips help her just relieve some of her anxiety. ... It’s something to do. She cannot do a lot staying at home. We try to be creative, playing games and reading books.”
