Holland Patent School District cafeteria workers Judith Smith and Connie Langdon prepare school lunches to deliver to students in the district in need. (Photo by Nicholas Newcomb)
Across the state, many CSEA members employed at school districts are finding ways to work to help their school community while school is shut down.
At many districts across the state, CSEA members have been playing a key role in ensuring that children continue to receive meals. Many families rely heavily on school-provided meals.
‘Above and beyond’
When CSEA members steered two trucks onto the City of Newburgh’s Grand Street one recent morning and then stopped outside the Newburgh Free Library, they had a welcoming awaiting them.
That’s because our members working in food services, security, and maintenance at the Newburgh School District have teamed up to ensure students are fed even though coronavirus has shuttered schools. With free breakfast and lunch offered throughout the district, our members are ensuring students’ nutritional needs are met.
Cleon Hayes, a driver for the Newburgh Enlarged City School District, passes bagged breakfasts and lunches to a fellow district staff member.
“Our members have gone above and beyond on behalf of our students during this outbreak,” said Newburgh School District Unit President Joseph Ammons. “They know our breakfast and lunch programs are of vital importance to so many families in our community, even more so now with schools closed. I’m very proud of them.”
In Newburgh, the team distributing meals load the two trucks and makes stops at eight different school sites. Workers distribute a bagged lunch for that day and breakfast for the next morning.
On that recent morning at the Newburgh Free Library, security guards Adeline Haynes and Lillian Paz sent students up, one family at a time, to the tables set up by our members Cleon Hayes, Kevin Kimlow, and Everton Soares. The district’s assistant superintendent of equity, Pedro Roman, handed the bags of food to the students.
It’s an arrangement most school districts have enacted in some form, with some using school buses to deliver meals in more rural areas.
Newburgh’s food services department has been honored three years in a row by the Food Research and Action Center as the third best school breakfast program in the country.
Katie White, Joyce Waite and Food Service Manager Ericka Sloan prep lunches. (Photo provided by the Greenwich Central School District)
Swinging into action
Greenwich Central School District kitchen and transportation staff have been packing and delivering meals to students who would otherwise miss the meals, and the nutrition, normally provided at school.
The Greenwich food plan swung into action immediately following the emergency school closings in New York and began mid-March with deliveries of breakfast and lunch three days a week. Plans for expanded deliveries are underway.
“I am so very proud to be part of the Greenwich community and a CSEA member at Greenwich Central School District,” said Greenwich Central School District Unit President Brenda Facin, who also serves as our union’s Capital Region 2nd Vice President.
— Jessica Ladlee and Therese Assalian
“All communities are concerned about feeding children whose families don’t have the means to provide three meals a day. In these uncertain times, we wanted to make sure the families in need were provided with a nutritious breakfast and lunch for their children. I’m glad we were able to work with the school district to provide this resource.”
— Diana Badala, food service worker, Connetquot Central School District (photo provided)
