MEMPHIS, Tenn — The Shelby County Schools District will start to distribute free meals to students and kids while they continue to learn virtually.
Even though students are not physically in the classroom, the district wants to ensure that students don't miss a meal that some rely on.
“Without nutrition, we can't expect students to do their best from an education standpoint. that's part of their preparation to be well fed and not have any starvation pangs or anything like that that would take their attention away from learning and classroom instruction," Genard Phillips, SCS Chief of Business Operations, said.
The district said its able to distribute the meals due to the recent extension of the USDA's Summer Meals Program.
Distribution of the free meals will happen every Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Parents and guardians can pick up the meals at any district school.
Parents can stay in their cars but will be asked to fill out a form that asks for the student's name, school and birthday. If they are not of school age, only name and birthday are required.
The district will provide seven days of breakfast and seven days of lunches. Pre-K students will also be given snacks. Instructions on how to prepare the meals will also be provided.
The district is also opening up the free meal distributions to non-SCS students.
For families that can't make the pick up times on Thursday, the district will also provide a small window to pick them up on Fridays from 7 to 9 a.m.
