TUCSON, Ariz. — Tucson Unified School District is making sure students are fed and they’re hitting the streets every school day to make it happen. Lindsay Aguilar with TUSD meal services says they have a new routine. Instead of handling old school lunch lines in the cafeteria workers are packing and dropping off meals for students to help them during the day.
“We have a large population of our TUSD family that really relies on these meals and we’re happy to be able to continue to provide this service to those that need it. We’re currently doing about 3,500 meals a day on our buses then we’re doing about a thousand at our school sites for our at-risk students that are on campus,” Aguilar said
There are 12 buses on the road making deliveries for parents and students to pick up. Each bus has four to five food service workers, a driver, and a monitor.
“Grab and to items are all cold with heating instructions for families to heat up at home. We assemble all of our meals at our central facility in our warehouse and we pack coolers and insulated bags. We have a team between foodservice and transportation that are out distributing these meals at 67 bus stops everyday between 10 am and 12 pm,” Aguilar said.
Strict COVID-19 safety protocols are also in place—the staff is expected to practice social distancing and more. Right now, 60 schools in the district are approved to give free meals to students under a federal program. If your child is not at one of those schools, you can fill out an application for free or reduced meals
“Our staff when they are preparing any food products, they are always wearing gloves, masks even if its packaged. It doesn’t have to be the school that your child attends if you live near a different school you can come to that bus stop whichever is closest to you to receive your meals,” Aguilar said.
http://www.tusd1.org/Departments/Food-Services/School-Meal-Programs/Lunch-Program [tusd1.org]
