On Tuesday, 14 buses rolled out of parking lots at two Vicksburg Warren School District schools.

The buses were delivering meals to students in the district who, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, have chosen distance learning.

“Eight buses left out of Sherman Avenue and each bus was loaded with a hundred meals, and Dana Road had six buses with about 150 meals on each bus,” the district’s child nutrition director Laura Bounds said.

The meals, which are part of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program, are being delivered to established bus routes Monday through Friday to students at no cost, Bounds said.

And these meals may be picked up at the enrolled student’s closest bus stop between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Bounds said there have been some “challenges” in organizing the packaged meals, which include a breakfast and lunch, but fortunately she has had a strong team to fulfill the needs of the students.

“I am very proud, especially of the ladies who have worked with me since March,” Bounds said. “Our passion is to feed our babies whether they are pre-K or seniors in high school, and we just want to take care of our children in the VWSD and make sure they receive a well-balanced breakfast and lunch.”

This is nothing new for this team. Between March and July, when in-person schooling was suspended, the district not only fed its students, but expanded its services to all children in the county, delivering more than 700,000 meals. 

“We got about a two-week break and then we were back in the swing of things to get the startup of school,” Bounds said.

In preparing the meals, the staff works to make sure it has as accurate a list as possible in order to create enough meals and cut down on any waste.

“We are trying to guage it (number of meals prepared), because we don’t want to put too much food on the bus and be wasteful,” Bounds said. However, extra meals are prepared for delivery.

“If a VWSD child shows up at the bus — but not yet signed up for meals — we are going to feed them as well,” Bounds said.

She also said the meals being delivered to children distance learning may vary, simply because of the types of meals that can be prepared, packaged and delivered.

“There is only so much you can sustain with the meals on the bus, so when it comes to holding temperatures, whether it be cold or hot, that plays a factor in what menu items go out on the bus versus what is being fed in-house,” she said. “But I tried not to vary too much from that because I wanted to try and be as consistent across the board for all of our students.”

The district is continuing to make sure buses stop at locations that will allow for all students in the district to receive meals.

“It is important students have nutritious meals every day so they can grow and learn. Hungry kids cannot learn,” Bounds said. “And with well over half of our families choosing distance learning, we know the right thing to do is to deliver meals to them.”

Bounds encouraged the public to thank all those who are making meal deliveries possible.

“If you see any of those amazing cafe workers or bus drivers, y’all please give them a big thumbs up, and tell them they are superheroes, because in my book they are,” Bounds said. “I am very proud of all of them.”

A list of bus stops can be found at www.vwsd.org/transportation. If you have children doing distance learning through the district and have not yet signed up, you can do so by visiting the district’s website at www.vwsd.org.

A child must be present and verified as an enrolled VWSD student before receiving meals.