Homepage

Syracuse City Schools Offer Free Lunches Over Midwinter Break Syracuse City Schools Offer Free Lunches Over Midwinter Break

By Cole Weinstein

Shavon Shabazz visiting Dr. King Elementary School in order to take part in the free meals program over midwinter break.
© 2019 Cole Weinstein

Cole Weinstein: For less than a dollar a meal, six schools in the district are serving during the week off. The hours of operation are 11 to one in the afternoon. Shavon Shabazz has two children in the school district and says this is a great idea because it’s hard as a parent to make ends meet during the break.

Shavon Shabazz: It’s the end of the month and as parents, some type of you know assistance helping them with food, this will help them carry on to be able to feed the children for a week because the children are very hungry.

Cole Weinstein: The school district covered the cost by using unused money from other departments in the district. Director of Food and Nutrition Services from the district, Rachel Murphy, says the reception has been great.

Rachel Murphy: Everybody who comes through, they all say ‘oh this is wonderful’, this is wonderful, this you know everybody’s been really appreciative.

Cole Weinstein: Murphy says the rollout has been smooth and that around 50 children come in at each meal service, a number the district would love to increase.

Cole Weinstein
N-C-C News

By Cole Weinstein SYRACUSE N.Y. (NCC News)

Students in the Syracuse City School District are out of class for the week because they are on midwinter break, but the district is still making sure they get fed for free. For the first time, the district is keeping their kitchens open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. from Tuesday to Friday, only serving to students in the district. The school district does serve free meals over the summer break, but not during other breaks like spring or winter.

“One of the biggest reasons we offered it this year is because the federal shutdown had a delay in supplemental nutrition assistant program benefits for many of our families, so we knew that there was already a need that was kind of pressing and rising with our community,” said Rachel Murphy, director of food and nutrition services for the district. Murphy said this program has run smoothly, and feedback has been positive.

Though all meals cost less than $1 for the district, the school really puts an emphasis on making sure all meals are healthy.

“Our meals are set-up to have balance, to have all nourishment and essential vitamins and minerals,” said Murphy.

Next year, the goal is to make more parents aware of this program said, Murphy. This idea came together at the last minute after both kids and social workers expressed worries about meals during the break, according to Murphy. Everything from staffing to budget needed to be figured out. Next year less time will be needed to plan which leaves more time to properly promote this program.

Shavon Shabazz, a parent of two children in the school district, agrees that promotion needs to be an emphasis. She thinks the district should let parents know about this program earlier.

“I think maybe the lack of coming out is because [parents] just don’t know they’re having it,” she said.

Murphy believes this program still has plenty of room to grow.

“We do have about 50 students coming at each meal service, we would like to see more,” said Murphy. “It’s okay, but we would really like to see more students coming out.”

Related Articles