Free Summer Meals Draw a Huge Turnout on the First Day! (Town Times- July 19, 2024)
July 11, 2024 - The Watertown Public Schools Food Service Team never anticipated just how many community members would turn out at the first ever Free Summer meals pick up at Deland Field. By the end of the 60 minute distribution window, the WPS Food Services team handed out 400 bags of food filled with four days worth of breakfast and lunch items, including fresh fruit/vegetable options and 400 half gallon jugs of milk. As cars quickly formed a queue down Echo Lake road, the Food Services team worked as fast as they could to deliver orders to each car window.
“Now that the first day of distribution is done, we have a sense of what the demand is and we’ve already redesigned how pick up will go to make the experience faster and more convenient for our families. We also know that we want to make our pick up area more conducive for regular intown traffic and we think we may have solved that problem. We never anticipated so many people interested in our Summer Meals program”, shared Emily Doering, Food Service Director of WPS. “We were thankful to have the WPD close by to help with traffic”, she said.
WPS is so proud to be able to serve our community by providing these meals throughout the summer in accordance with the National School Lunch Project. Every child under 18 years of age is eligible for a bag of food that includes 4 days/3 days worth of breakfast items; lunch items; fresh fruit and vegetables; and a half gallon of milk for every child in the family.
“With skyrocketing food costs and inflation hitting every family right now, it is our privilege as a school district to be able to provide a little assistance to all of our families when the grocery bill continues to make big dents in wallets across our community. Every little bit helps when you have a family with kids even if it’s just one child or several”, said a Food Service Team Member as she moved as quickly as possible in the midday heat.
“This could not be possible without our amazing Food Service Team who don’t normally work during the summer months. Each team member was eager to be part of this summer feeding project and when the opportunity was brought to the team, many immediately showed their commitment to being present and helping provide this summer service to our families. On the first day, it was so busy that even our custodial/maintenance team jumped on line to hand out bags and milk!”, said Emily Doering.
Now that we have a greater sense of the demand and have been through the process once, we have made plans to ensure the next experience will be smoother for our community members when they drive up to Deland. We thank everyone for their patience and again we are so proud to serve our community in any way we can. The WPS Summer Meals food service team: Lori Baribault; Bette Jean Vail; Sharon Fitzgerald; Kelly Pannofino; Paula Cahill; Karen Perugini; Christina Smail; Jenn Vitone.
Every Tuesday and Thursday from 12 to 1 PM, until August 22, bags of food including breakfast and lunch items along with milk will be provided at Deland field by the Watertown Public Schools to any individual 18 years of age or under. Cars must drive up to Deland Field from the bottom of Echo Lake Road to enter the parking lot. Cars driving down from Main st. will not be allowed to make a left turn into the parking lot beginning Tuesday to help assist with traffic flow.