District aims to meet food hunger need, few students turnout

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The coronavirus is keeping schools on their toes forcing districts to meet some student needs even when they aren’t in class.

In Pender County, they may have to revisit their plans after a very few people showed up today for meals.

Vernon Tanner, who oversees the district’s dining services program, says the 15 schools across the county serve meals to about 10,000 students every day and roughly half of the students are in the free or reduced lunch program.

So, with all schools closed, students and children under 18 can still pick up bagged breakfast and lunch between 11 a.m. and 1 p-m.

At Heidi Trask High School, a worker told WWAY only 4 students had shown up by 12:30 p.m., but she said there are about 200 students on the free and reduced lunch program at the school.

“We do have a lot of students who are in need and count on these meals,” Tanner said. “We developed the plan right now… and we had 24 hours of notice. We got the information in on Saturday night.”

Tanner says they’re committed to their job of feeding children. He says parents can also pick up bagged meals at any of the 15 schools for now.

“In this case, with all schools being closed and with the federal and state legalities saying do not congregate, it makes it more of a challenge,” Tanner said.

He says its a challenge, but not impossible. Dining services has a history of serving in crisis with hurricanes.

“When you’re in uncharted waters like we are right now where all locations are closed and we don’t want a lot of congregation,” Tanner said. “It becomes a whole different animal.”

Tanner says the county is sticking to this current plan through Tuesday, but it could change Wednesday.

“A lot of things have been talked about and one has been community sites,” Tanner said. “Obviously, we are not talking about an inner city here because our county is spread out, but we do have community sites that are in need but we are still looking at scenarios.”