Santa Rosa schools respond to shutdown with ‘grab and go’ food bags

Public schools are an established font of learning, but with Sonoma County classrooms closed for the academic year by the threat of coronavirus infection, they remain a source of food for the body rather than the mind.

Santa Rosa City Schools, Sonoma County’s largest district, began pivoting from regular in-school food service to a social distance-respecting alternative as soon as the shutdown order was issued in mid-March.

The following week, on March 23, the district launched a “Grab & Go” program in a big way, handing out 934 paper bags of food through drive-up service at nine sites. With a breakfast and lunch in each bag, the distribution provided 1,868 meals, said Ed Burke, the district’s Child Nutrition Services director.

On Wednesday, its eighth day of operation, the program handed out 1,486 bags containing nearly 3,000 meals.

“We’re seeing growth,” Burke said. “You want to serve as many people as possible.”

But the downside, he said, is that increased demand for the food bags - which are free to all children 18 and younger - likely reflects a growing number of families under financial stress, he said.

Diann Kitamura, the city schools superintendent, had an immediate directive when the school closure order came out. “She was very clear,” Burke said. “We have to feed the kids.”

In an email, Kitamura said students “rely on our schools for more than learning” and many “would go hungry if they didn’t have access to school meals.”

“When orders came to shelter in place at home, we knew that children would not have food,” she said. “So continuing to provide meals for children was a first priority.”

Steve Herrington, the county schools superintendent, underscored the connection between nutrition and education.

“Making sure children are fed during these uncertain times is a priority for local school districts,” he said in a statement.

Burke said his staff of 25 school district employees starts work at 6 a.m. every weekday to assemble the food bags. Last week’s breakfasts included blueberry pancakes, breakfast buns and cereal, with bean and cheese burritos, cheeseburger sliders and cheese pizza lunches, with fresh fruit and vegetables, 100% fruit juice and milk every day.

Santa Rosa’s program also feeds students from the Bennett Valley, Mark West, Gravenstein and Piner-Olivet districts, which are directing their students to the nine Santa Rosa sites. It is also providing meal bags for the Bellevue, Kashia and Horicon districts.

The county’s other large school districts - Cotati-Rohnert Park, Windsor, Sonoma Valley, Healdsburg and Cloverdale - have launched their own food pickup programs.

The Sonoma County Office of Education is partnering with 2-1-1 Sonoma and local school districts to provide any family in need the location of the food pickup program closest to them and its hours of operation by calling 2-1-1.

The meals are free to any child, with the only requirement that the child is present at the pickup.

The grab and go program, like the regular meals provided on school campuses during the academic year and the summer, are funded by the National School Lunch Program, which served more than 30 million children in 2016.

Kitamura applauded Burke for developing the grab and go program in one week during spring break.

Burke, who joined the Santa Rosa district in June, “shined with his ability to organize and deliver this meal service,” she said, calling it a “tremendous benefit to the community.”

Burke deflected the credit to his staffers for their commitment in coming to work “during a scary time.”

“They are the real heroes,” he said. “I’m just some guy.”

For more information on Santa Rosa’s school food program, including the pickup sites, go to srcschools.org/freemeals.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.