Nearly 490,000 children in Ohio struggle with food insecurity. Pickaway-Ross is helping combat it by providing bagged food for its students to take home on Friday afternoons.
“These are weekend breakfast meals — whole grain Pop-Tarts, muffins, cereal boxes and juice boxes, non-perishable items — so that students will have a breakfast for Saturday and Sunday,” said Angela Bell, the career center’s cafeteria manager.
“A lot of kids don’t have anything on the weekends. Even if they eat it that night as a snack, they’re getting food.”
The weekend meal project began a few weeks ago and Angela said the initial challenge was how to reach every student.
“We’ve learned where we need to be (as students leave the building) to reach everyone. So our numbers (of students getting food) have grown, which is wonderful,” she said.
“Kids seem very appreciative when they get the weekend bag. I think a lot of them are thankful that they have the food.”
In addition to the weekend meals, Pickaway-Ross has always provided students with free breakfast. This year, the Ohio Department of Education, which administers the free- and reduced-lunch program, implemented free lunches for students through the school year.