PEACH COUNTY, Ga. — While wearing masks and gloves, Peach County School employees hand out meals for students while schools are closed down because of COVID-19.
“We were giving out breakfast and lunch every day, but as this thing has started to grow, we heard about some cases in Peach County, and we have some people who work in our school nutrition department with some preexisting conditions,” Superintendent Lionel Brown said.
Brown and Nutrition Director Matoshia Grant decided to partner with the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank to offer more food, with fewer pick up times.
“We were able to serve several hundred families. Now, we're giving out enough food, not just for a day, but it can last them for awhile,” Brown said.
“We're hitting the community really hard with food, so that they can limit themselves from coming out every day to come pick up a meal,” Grant said.
Isan Sampson with the food bank and Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese were on foot guiding the drive-thru lines.
“We bring--on a normal basis--about 250 families worth of products, and that being from frozen items and non-perishables,” Sampson said.
“The sheriff's office has been delivering to people who can't get out. They're moving events like this around to different communities, so we can reach as many people as possible,” Deese said.
The number of boxes that drivers received was based on the size of their family. Brown says the meals program teaches students the importance of having a strong community.
“We're going to be fine if we stick together and keep our faith intact. So stay encouraged, keep working on your lessons, and hopefully we can get back into the swing of things. Go Trojans!” Brown said.
Brown says they packed the boxes with food items to help students get through their spring break, which starts next week. He says his staff will reconvene at the end of the break to plan their meal program going forward.
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