Drivers easily pick up meals for their children at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Seamless Summer Option's (SSO) alternative to traditional congregant feeding; this affords safe distancing with curbside distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic in the neighborhoods supported by Harlandale Independent School District's (HISD) Armando Leal Jr. Middle School, in San Antonio, TX, on April 9, 2020.
SSO has less paperwork, making it easier for schools to feed children during the traditional summer vacation periods and, for year-round schools, long school vacation periods, and during unanticipated school closures (i.e.the current coronavirus emergency). For more information about Seamless Summer and Other Options for Schools, please go to fns.usda.gov/sfsp/seamless-summer-and-other-options-schools.
Here, a greeter welcomes drivers and ask how many children are being fed. The amount is called out to teammates who then place the bagged meals of hot lunches and cold breakfasts, on a table, then steps back. Drivers lower their windows and pick-up the meals from the table. This alternate workflow with a 6-person team of child nutrition staffers delivers more than 500 meals in 90 minutes. The school has received many thank-you messages from parents and students for providing this service. The staff are highly motivated, happy to see, wave to, and serve the children they have seen grow up.
Because this site is closed tomorrow, children are given two days' worth of breakfast and lunch meals.
The meals fulfill USDA standards and include USDA commodities of turkey sandwiches and apple sauce/strawberry cups. Because of the portable needs of the meals, a bag of multigrain chips replaced hummus for today's grains. The hot meal includes a corndog made from a USDA recipe. Because of the portable needs of the meals, a bag of multigrain chips replaced hummus for today's grains. For more information about HISD Child Nutrition Program, please go to harlandale.net/cms/one.aspx?portalId=829982&pageId=1745444.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost, or free lunches to children each school day—the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946. For more information about NSLP, please go to fns.usda.gov/nslp/nslp-fact-sheet.
Children need good nutrition all year long. The Summer Food Service Program, National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, and the Seamless Summer Option make it possible for schools to provide nutritious meals after the regular school year ends.
For more information about FNS, please go to fns.usda.gov
USDA Photo by Lance Cheung. Original public domain image from Flickr