As school districts across the New England region work around-the-clock to feed their students with either grab-n-go or home delivered meals, local dairy farmers have stepped up to support those efforts. New England Dairy has invested more than $71,000 to purchase and donate cooler bags to help schools store and transport school meals and milk to students in need. Dairy farm families have made possible the purchase of over 1,600 cooler bags for schools to date.
New England Dairy program experts have worked with school nutrition staff to identify needs in the school’s COVID-19 response plans. Some of the challenges identified at the school level included the lack of available cold storage and easy transport options for meals. Local dairy farmers answered that call with the funding of cooler bags for 90 different school districts in New England, so far.
Thousands of school nutrition staffers are working tirelessly on the front-lines to keep students and children fed at this critical time. For some students, the meals they receive at school are the only nutritious food options they get during the day. And in some cases, this is the only food they have access to period. New England Dairy and dairy farming families across the region are proud to support these efforts and be a medium through which the farm to school connection can be made.
New England Dairy would like to continue supporting the amazing efforts of school districts that are serving meals while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. If you have equipment challenges related to serving meals and milk during this time, please reach out to info@newenglanddairy.com to discuss your challenges and how New England Dairy might be able to help.
GENYOUth is providing grants of up to $3,000 per school to supply much-needed resources for meal distribution and delivery efforts to get food to students during COVID-19. Get more information about the GENYOUth Emergency School Nutrition grants and apply here.
This post is being updated as more coolers and funding are provided. Last updated 5/29/2020.
