Gateway School District staff, volunteers ensure students eat during closure

Unprecedented.

That’s the word food workers and volunteers at Gateway School District kept using Monday, the first day of closing the schools following Gov. Tom Wolf’s directive to shut down Pennsylvania education for 10 days starting March 16 amid worldwide covid-19 uncertainty.

“This has never been done before,” said Martin Lorenzo, the district’s food service director as he stood in the Pitcairn Borough Building’s parking lot handing out school lunches to families.

The district announced Sunday it would hand out free lunches to students aged 18 and under everyday during the closure from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at four district locations.

The move came amid a coronavirus pandemic that has closed schools, bars, restaurants and other public places to curb the virus’ spread.

Lorenzo said the initiative is acting like a hybrid of the district’s Summer Food Service Program, which is a federally-funded program that provides free meals and activities to kids 18 and under during summer months while school is out of session.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education’ National School Lunch Program 2019 report, there were 1,849 Gateway students who were eligible for free and reduced-price lunches that year.

Lorenzo said the district chose where to hand out lunches based on the areas that have 50% or more of the students enrolled in the NSLP. Those were Cleveland Steward Elementary, Evergreen Elementary, Gateway Middle School and the Pitcairn Borough Building.

Food services workers were equipped with 800 lunches on Monday, with the most distributed from the Pitcairn location.

Lateik Hughes, of Pitcairn, walked with her four children from her Second Avenue house to the borough building Monday. She said she’ll be there every day.

Her children, all under the age of 14, had options to choose from the meals available: turkey, ham or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, each with a variety of fruits and snacks.

“I’ve worked the same kitchen all these years, but I’m new at this part,” said Becky Domin, a high school foodservice veteran of 21 years, as she unloaded the district’s box truck used to transport the 300 meals packed in coolers.

Lorenzo said Cleveland Steward Elementary and Gateway Middle School were each stocked with 150 lunches. Evergreen Elementary got 200.

Amanda Probst, a Cleveland Steward Elementary food service worker, said it felt good knowing students were still getting fed while school’s out.

“With everything going on, we gotta keep our kids fed,” she said. She and Susan Cassidy had handed out 26 lunches by 11:45 a.m. on Monday.

“We’d rather overdo this than under-do,” Lorenzo said. “But I suspect today will be a learning curve and we’ll adjust as the days go on in terms of how much (food) we distribute where.”

Meanwhile, at Moss Side Middle School, teachers and volunteers from the Gateway Education Association distributed bags of groceries for area families with children who might be in need.

Grant Sample, president of GEA, said the organization started planning for Monday’s makeshift food bank over the weekend.

“Our teachers love,” he said as people drove up to one of the middle school’s awnings, where several tables held bags filled with food.

Volunteers began shopping for food at Shop ‘N Save, Aldi and Sam’s Club on Sunday. They bought enough to feed a family of two to three people for around five days. But Sample said they will give enough food to fit a family’s needs.

“We’re delivering too,” Sample said. “We know transportation and coming into contact with other people might be difficult for some.”

To sign up for delivery, Sample directed people to visit the GEA’s website, which was launched specifically to serve people in this time of crisis. The groceries were available to families from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. but Sample said GEA volunteers will continue to deliver the food until it’s gone.

“And if you need more, let us know,” he said.