Even though school is out for the foreseeable future, the Franklin County School System is still providing meals to children.
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Michelle Jorschumb peeks from behind a cart as she and other members of the Lavonia Elementary School food nutrition service prepare to hand out meals Tuesday for students. (Photo by Eberhardt)
CARNESVILLE – Even though school is out for the foreseeable future, the Franklin County School System is still providing meals to children.
One of the reasons Franklin County Schools Superintendent Chris Forrer stated for not originally closing the system when other counties were shutting down schools was concern for students who may struggle with meals while school was out.
To alleviate this concern, the school system is providing daily meals – breakfast and lunch – at no cost for all children ages 2-18.
Children must be present to get the meals.
The system set up pick up locations at three of its schools, Lavonia and Royston Elementary and Franklin County Middle Schools.
Meals can be picked up at these locations from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. by pulling through the bus loop of each of the participating schools.
Bus deliveries have also been established at multiple locations throughout the county.
Starting at 11 a.m., meals can be picked up for children at New Bethel Baptist Church, County Line Cafe and Carnesville Elementary School in Carnesville; Springview Heights Gym (Spring Street Gym), Ridgewood Hills and Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Lavonia; Gaines Homes in Royston; Canon Baptist Church in Canon; and the Shaw Athletic Center at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs.
If a child has special dietary needs, they can only pick up a meal from one of the three school locations.
The pick-up and bus-deliver sites are being manned by school nutrition personnel, teachers and paraprofessionals.
School staff members have even taken to knocking on doors to notify people they can receive free meals for their children that are ages 2-18.
“We handed out 1,850 meals today,” Forrer said Tuesday afternoon. “We are pleased with being able to feed children while school is out, but we are planning on making some adjustments. We knew there were going to be some bumps in the program since we pulled it together in a matter of 24 hours, so we are going to discuss how to iron those out and talk about expanding it to more places so we can feed more children.”
The announcement for any new locations will be published on social media later this week and in this newspaper next Thursday.