SALEM — Its been a challenging year feeding the students of Salem Public Schools, but the district’s Food and Nutrition Services will be getting some help thanks to a state grant.
The program was awarded a $105,000 competitive grant last week, which will help run several programs, including van delivery, moving forward said Food and Nutrition Services director Deborah Jeffers.
“We were hoping for it,” Jeffers said. “And it was thrilling when we got word that we were going to receive it. This is awesome.”
With students working remotely, Jeffers and her staff have been delivering meals both individually and at sites during set times around the city three times a week. The grant will go towards equipping a delivery van with the proper tools to make these deliveries.
The van will also be used as a part of the Food and Nutrition Services’ partnership with Root, a non-profit with a mission to provide young adults with a pathway to independence through food-service training and employment.
“The grant will cover the cost of the van and to trick it out, as they say, with warmers and refrigerators that are run by a generator in the van,” Jeffers said. “We have a van, but it doesn’t have all those capabilities now. This one here will help hold hot and cold food and we can serve from inside the van, which is a lot safer, especially right now.”
Staying safe while feeding Salem’s students has been the biggest challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been a challenge, I can say that,” Jeffers said. “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. We’re staying safe and are able to make enough money to keep everyone working. We’re essential, so we’ve been working since March.”
“Now this grant will help us to deliver meals safely,” Jeffers said. “We can also use it for other things even going into the summer. With community meals, we haven’t been able to do as much as we could, but we go out and serve in areas outside.”
Individual deliveries are currently being made to 14 families and sites on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In-school meals are currently being made for around 450 at-risk students, but that will be changing soon for Jeffers and her staff of around 52. Salem plans to bring in Pre-K, kindergarten, first, second, sixth and ninth graders for in-person learning starting Nov. 16.
“This helps us a lot,” Jeffers said. “I would encourage parents to take out meals because it provides us with the money to keep our staff employed and keep things running.”
