NHCS to serve free meals through end of 2020, restarts delivery service

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — More meal service options are coming back for students in New Hanover County Schools.

The USDA Child Nutrition waiver was extended through the end of the year, allowing the district to pick back up with its meal delivery service.

The extension also means all children 18 and younger can receive free meals with no parent/guardian consent form required.

When schools shifted online last year, New Hanover County started delivering meals to students, but it didn’t continue into the new school year.

Over the last few weeks, the district has been doing curbside meal pickup.

Assistant Superintendent Eddie Anderson says they just expanded to 44 sites and since the pandemic started they’ve served almost a million meals.

With the extension, Anderson says they hope to have school buses delivering meals starting September 14.

He also says they have plans for when students come back to school under Plan B.

“We’re going to be feeding kids in their classroom for the first rotation,” Anderson said. “During that rotation, we’ll gain a better idea of how many students and what opportunities there are. We understand students aren’t going to want to sit in their classroom all day. I wouldn’t either.”

Anderson says they want to start using the cafeteria or outdoor space as well.

They’re also hoping for a hybrid meal service plan and to continue to offer meal delivery when students are remote.