Partnering with Schools to Provide Meals
Currently, all public schools in our five New England states have closed for an undetermined amount of time. Within a few short days, districts developed plans to continue providing breakfast and lunch meals to their students. This has included delivery along bus routes, curbside pickup at school buildings, and setting up distribution locations in apartment complexes and other areas with high need.
New England Dairy is working with our schools and partners to develop solutions that will help get meals and milk to students by:
- Identifying school districts that need coolers to safely transport meals and milk from vehicles or locations that do not have plug-in refrigeration. New England dairy farmers, along with other generous partners, have provided $255,000 in grants and equipment to schools to help serve milk and meals to students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The schools we have supported are serving around 715,000 meals and half pints of milk every week to the students in their communities. Read more here.
- Working with regional milk processors and distributors, food banks, and anti-hunger organizations to address situations of school milk over- and under-supply.
- Continually monitoring the needs of our school districts and partners, and offering assistance to support the milk and dairy needs in our region.
New England Dairy would like to support the amazing efforts of school districts that are serving meals while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. If you have equipment challenges related to serving meals and milk during this time, please reach out to info@newenglanddairy.com to discuss your challenges and how New England Dairy might be able to help.
GENYOUth is providing grants of up to $3,000 per school to supply much-needed resources for meal distribution and delivery efforts to get food to students during COVID-19. Get more information about the GENYOUth Emergency School Nutrition grants and apply here.