Pick-up times announced for Galion students to get free meals

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GALION — Over the next two and a half weeks, Galion City Schools will provide free lunch and breakfast for its students.

“At this point, our lunch program has over 420 kids on it, but that number is rising. Every time I ask the number of students on this program is higher,” Superintendent Jim Grubbs said.

The school is following the summer food service guidelines to provide lunches for the students.

The current program is funded be the USDA. The ODE applied for a waiver with the USDA, in case this exact situation where the schools closed for a few weeks, were to happen.

Courtesy photo Bus garage staff and others are doing all they can to make certain Galion students receive meals during the COVID-19 shutdown.

“Before we even knew the government was going to fund it, we started thinking about how we would feed our kids over the next few weeks,” Grubbs said. “We knew that one obstacle our students and their families would have when it came to getting the meals was transportation. We decided that the best way would be to run our bus routes, and then come up with locations for those who may not ride a bus, so that at least they could be close to their house so they can still get meals,” Grubbs said.

District bus driver and transportation supervisor Sherri McMullen, came up with a plan to support those routes with aides on the bus to assist them with passing out lunches. The cafeteria staff immediately came together with the technology department and created a Google Form for parents to go on and log in to sign up for lunches. With the data collected from the sign-up sheets, they were able to create drop-off times. The bus drivers then came into the schools and called every family who signed up to let them know when their drop-off time would be.

Courtesy photo
Galion City Schools are taking several steps to feed Galion students during the coronavirus shutdown.

“It’s great that the district supports our community and the students at Galion, and others because this program is for any student/child age one to 18 from any district. I’m glad we’re able to support kids in our area, and I am proud of our bus drivers, cafeteria and food service staff, and aides for all of their help with this project,” said Galion City School’s Food Service Director Lorie Pennington said.

The approximate times the buses will be at the designated stops are:

  • East Park – 11:20 a.m.
  • Galion Depot – 11:23 a.m.
  • Galion Arms – 12:10 p.m.
  • Galion YMCA – 12:15 p.m.
  • Libby Lane – 12:40 p.m.
  • There is also a pickup time from 11 a.m.-noon at the high school.

For more information about the program, call Pennington at 419-468-3432, ext. 11016. For information about transportation/food arrival times, call McMullen, at 419-468-3432, ext. 1102

Courtesy photo Galion City Schools cafeteria workers are one of many within the school district helping to make certain children get enough to eat while schools are closed.

Staff report

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