WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The Houston County School District offers breakfast and lunch for all students, including those enrolled in Houston Virtual distance learning. Houston Virtual students may pick up meals at any of the district’s eight middle schools on Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
To pick up meals, parents/guardians are asked to write the student’s name, lunch number and school on a piece of paper and place it in the passenger window. Upon enrollment verification, each student will receive 10 meals for the week.
Houston Virtual students enrolled in Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools receive meals at no charge. The following 19 schools qualify as CEP schools: C.B. Watson Primary, Centerville Elementary, Huntington Middle, Lindsey Elementary, Miller Elementary, Morningside Elementary, Northside Elementary, Northside High, Northside Middle, Parkwood Elementary, Pearl Stephens Elementary, Russell Elementary, Shirley Hills Elementary, Thomson Middle, Tucker Elementary, Warner Robins Middle, Warner Robins High, Westside Elementary and WIN Academy.
Students who attend non-CEP schools will be charged for meals based on the student’s eligibility.
Kaththea Darmento has a 5-year-old daughter enrolled in virtual learning at Northside Elementary School.
"We make like $75 over the income cutoff for food stamps, so it'll help us a lot with extra food to give to her. That way, we're not scraping the bottom of the barrel," said Darmento.
"It's nice that they're trying to make the accommodations because, at least for the north side -- a lot of the lower income families live on the north side -- and it's going to be more beneficial to us to have this program, so that way, we don't have to figure out where their next meal is going to come from," she said.
Director of School Nutrition Meredith Potter says the district is happy to help.
"COVID-19, it has certainly impacted all families, whether it's been just an additional stress trying to figure out childcare, or there have been financial burdens, so being able to offer meals to families during this time is a privilege and we're happy to be able to serve our students and families in this way," said Potter.
The district said it's able to offer only one day per week right now, but if the need increases they'll consider adding more days for meal pickup.
For more information about school meals, parents may contact the School Nutrition Area Manager, April Bohannon, at April.Bohannon@hcbe.net or call the nutrition program at 478-322-3308.