“Ready to serve,” doesn’t just apply to the pre-prepared breakfast and lunch meals which will again be going out for Monongalia County youngsters at home during the COVID-19 lock-out.
You can also put that tag on the menu for the volunteers who will gather at a location on Everhart Drive today to begin packing those meals, Ron Lytle said.
“They’re good people,” said Lytle, who is president of the Monongalia County Board of Education. “And they’re here for the kids.”
Deliveries resume at noon Thursday and will be every Thursday for the near future.
When Gov. Jim Justice put forth his statewide, stay-at-home order Monday in response to coronavirus concerns, that action also compromised the recipe for the county district.
Up to that point, cafeteria workers for Mon Schools were still reporting to their respective kitchens. There, they prepared meals to that segment of the student population that might not always get a nutritious meal otherwise.
Up to that point, the meals were available for pickup at schools in the county, and Mon’s school bus drivers also delivered them to stops along their routes.
“They were the heroes,” Assistant Superintendent of Schools Donna Talerico said.
The district, however, closed its schools to everyone after the governor’s issuance. Which meant meals with no place to go.
So the district suspended deliveries for Tuesday and today, while heating up another plan, which included Justin Byers, of Morgantown’s Bartini Prime restaurant, and other volunteers.
“We’ll have five breakfast meals and five lunch meals,” Lytle said. “All you’ll have to do is put ‘em in the oven.”
Right now, deliveries will be made to 16 locations across the county, Lytle said, with the possibility of adding more in the future.
Visit https://boe.mono.k12.wv.us/ for a complete list off those drop-off points.
The food is being packed and delivered will the blessing of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other official entities, Lytle said.
“We got permission on the federal and state level,” he said. “We aren’t going rogue here.”
Meanwhile, the BOE met in a pandemic version of its regular meeting Tuesday evening. That session was closed to the public to keep down the potential spread of COVID-19.
As of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, the state Department of Health and Human Resources reported 39 confirmed cases in West Virginia, including 16 in Monongalia County. And non-coronavirus business was on the agenda, with discussions including a look at levy rates for the coming academic year and the contract of Mon Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr.
The Dominion Post will have coverage of that meeting in Thursday’s edition.
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