By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(April 30, 2020) Worcester County Public Schools have handed out 54,432 meals to students over the past month, since schools were officially closed because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Some students rely on breakfast and lunch from the 14 schools in the county, so immediately after the decision was made by State Superintendent Dr. Karen Salmon to close schools, the local school system began providing meals, beginning with five locations within three days. Now, there are seven locations and the meals are offered five days a week.

Vince Tolbert

“We understand the critical role that nutritious meals play in the healthy development and the long-term health and educational outcomes for our students,” Worcester County Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Vincent Tolbert said. “We developed our plan to ensure our students would continue to have access to healthy meals prior to our students being dismissed on March 13.”

The first week – March 17, 18 and 20 – the board handed out 3,786 meals, which includes breakfast, lunch and snacks. The following week – March 23-27 – 9,030 meals were distributed.

The third week – March 30 to April 3 – 9,765 meals were supplied. The week of Easter recess, 14,913 meals, which included additional food to eat during the break, were handed out.

From April 14-17, the board provided 7,353 meals over a four-day period. From April 20-24, 9,585 meals were distributed.

On average, Tolbert said volunteers at the sites give out meals to approximately 650 students per day.

Meals have also been delivered to students in need who are unable to travel to the designated sites.

Each meal is comprised of food that fulfills the National School Lunch Program nutritional requirements.

“Our menu consists of student favorite items [such as] whole grain blueberry muffins, whole grain cereals, whole grain breakfast breads, fresh bananas, oranges, apples, whole grain breads, low-fat chocolate and white milk, and a variety of vegetables,” Tolbert said.

Meals offered also include pasta with meat sauce, cheeseburgers, nachos with Tex-Mex, chicken sandwiches and a variety of whole grain snacks.

According to Tolbert, the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Our community has always been very supportive of our school system,” Tolbert said. “We have received many offers to help during this time and are truly thankful for each one.

“We are also very appreciative of our volunteers at our four community-based distribution sites,” he continued. “These include Windy Gardens Apartments in Pocomoke, Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Snow Hill, Bay Terrace Garden Apartments in Berlin and St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Ocean City.”

Superintendent of Schools Lou Taylor praised the work of the community in the most recent Board of Education teleconference on Tuesday.

“We are staying the course in support of our students,” Taylor said. “We’re doing it through supporting our student’s basic needs through our feeding program, which we just last week served almost 7,400 meals to children in need in this county, support to their social emotional support through remote counseling services … and I want to extend again my thanks to our entire community for their support of our efforts in this entire process during this time.”

Tolbert also praised the success of the program through the board’s partners and the support of the community.

“The success of our meal distribution program during this time of school closure has once again demonstrated how working together is key to our success,” he said. “This includes the leadership of our Board of Education and superintendent, the financial support of our County Commissioners, the hard work and dedication of our administrators and food service staff and the overwhelming support of our community.”

For more information about the Worcester County Public Schools meal distributions, contact Tolbert at 410-632-5062 or email him at vetolbert@worcesterk12.org.

Lunch distribution locations, Worcester County Public Schools, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.:

Snow Hill:

• Ebenezer United Methodist Church (107 S. Collins St.)
• Snow Hill Elementary School (515 Coulbourne Lane)

Pocomoke:

• Windy Gardens (800 Lynn Haven Dr.)
• Pocomoke Middle School (800 8th Street)

Berlin/Ocean City:

• Buckingham Elementary School (100 Buckingham Rd., Berlin)
• Bay Terrace Apartments (517 Bay Street, Berlin)
• St. Paul’s by the Sea Episcopal Church (302 Baltimore Ave., Ocean City)