Challenges of getting food to South Lake Tahoe students during the pandemic

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Before schools were shut down in March, 2020 due to the pandemic, the 3,680 students registered in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) were able to have daily hot lunch and breakfast at school or delivered by school bus, should they desire.

Then COVID-19 hit, schools closed and people stayed home. There was worry that the 30 million school children in the United States getting free or reduced meals at school would go hungry.

That wasn't going to happen in South Lake Tahoe.

The process has changed a few times over the past year but LTUSD hasn't missed a step in trying to keep its students fed.

Since March 2020, LTUSD has served a total of 106,843 lunches and 107,875 breakfasts to students, all at no charge. Even when schools were closed the meals were delivered by school buses that were filled with breakfasts and lunches and sent into the neighborhoods. The cafeterias at school sites were kept open to provide the meals as well, even though classrooms were shuttered.

"We have spent an additional $69,897 in order to feed the children," said LTUSD Director of Food Service Tammy Miller. "We have remained busy preparing meals that have been frozen and can be sent home for reheating."

The government enabled the Seamless Summer Meal Waiver to go through the year, reimbursing the District for some costs, as well as some CARES and Prop. 98 funds that provided an additional reimbursement.

Now that schools have partially reopened, the students are still being feed for free by the District. Miller said her team is currently serving an average of 584 lunches daily and an average of 590 breakfasts.

Even though all meals are free of charge, no matter a family's income, the numbers are down from what a pre-pandemic meal count would be. Lunch service is down 40 percent while breakfasts are down 90 percent.

Instead of the school bus delivery and on-campus serving, students get the meals to take home on Tuesdays (for Cohort A) and Fridays (for Cohort B). They get a week's worth at a time since their school days are currently on a reduced schedule.

Sixty-one percent of the school population who qualified for free meals prior to the pandemic, 13 percent who qualified for reduced costs and 25 percent who would pay full price actually utilized the cafeterias.

"Overall our participation is low, we are hopeful that the numbers will improve as we have more students on campus," said Miller.

LTUSD is not alone in experiencing these low numbers and school food directors across the country. In a study of the U.S. Census Bureau's weekly Household Pulse Survey, only 15 percent of low-income households with children who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals actually pick up the meals.

Some food directors in the country think perhaps the numbers are low because parents cannot get to the drop off locations. Others think perhaps more parents are working and the need is gone, while others are stumped as to the reasons.

Bread & Broth 4 Kids has been alongside the LTUSD school buses for the past year, handing out their weekly food bags at bus stops. March to May of 2020, volunteers were delivering 400 bags of food to the kids once a week (double of their pre-pandemic efforts). Bags were also available at cafeterias, Boys and Girls Club, Catalyst Community (formerly Choices for Children) and day care providers.

The nonprofit and bus drivers worked together for the best method of getting the weekly bags of food to the students once the new school year started and have adjusted delivery methods a few times to meet the changing school plans. Currently bus drivers have the bags on their busses for when kids are heading home, and they're available a couple of other ways, including Grace Hall. The numbers are half of what they were one year ago when COVID-19 first hit, getting back to normal counts.