Warrick Co Food & Nutrition Dept Urging Parents to Pick Up Meals

This past week, I finally reached my breaking point. My daughter, who is going into second grade, has been inundating me with food requests. Breakfast - second breakfast - snack - barely eaten lunch - second lunch request that is mostly a hail Mary for a sweet snack - snack - snack - snack - snack - dinner - dessert - request to finish dinner since she was actually still hungry. Until last week, I'd been doing my best to keep up with demand and provide healthy nutritious grazing snacks throughout the day. All you hear is take care of your little's mental health. And if it helped her to cut up watermelon and make vegetable packs and concoct a chunky monkey yogurt pop (which are delicious btw) I was all for it. BUT after three months, this mama is burned out!

But, I learned yesterday in an email from the Warrick Co. Food and Nutrition Dept that they WANT me to come get my daughter a nutritious lunch! This changes everything!

No matter what your financial situation, you're actually helping the Warrick Co. Food and Nutrition Dept by going and picking up food for your kids who are under 18. The Warrick Co. Food and Nutrition Dept is a self supporting entity of the Warrick County School Corporation meaning they do not receive funds from the school corp. They rely on money students pay for meals each day. During the COVID closures, the Warrick Co. Food and Nutrition Dept wasn't bringing in lunch money but continued to employ their 150 person staff. To recoup some of the lost income from lunch money, the USDA has reimbursed each meal provided to the Warrick Co community.

In an email distributed to parents from Shenae M. Rowe, RDN, the WCSC Food & Nutrition Director urged parents to pick up meals for anyone 18 and younger.

Over the last 3 months, the Food & Nutrition Department has had the privilege to serve over 250,000 breakfast and lunch meals to the students and children in our community!

The Grab n’ Go meals, most importantly, have allowed us to provide nutritious breakfast and lunch meals to the children in our community and has given those children a sense of normalcy and something to look forward to each day.

The most effective way you can help the Food & Nutrition Department is to participate in our Grab n’ Go meals so that we can continue to offer them to our community throughout the summer which will also help us recoup financial losses that impacted our program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Free “Grab and Go” meals are available for anyone 18 years of age and younger. And, kids don't have to be in the vehicle when you pick up!

Below are the location sites, dates, and days of the week. Note the NEW TIMES!!

Tecumseh Middle/High June 1st – TBD M-T-W-Th-F* 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
Chandler Elementary June 1st – July 24th M-T-W-Th-F* 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
Oakdale Elementary June 1st – July 24th M-T-W-Th-F* 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
Sharon Elementary June 1st – July 24th M-T-W-Th-F* 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
Tennyson Elementary June 1st – July 24th M-T-W-Th-F* 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.

* A Saturday breakfast and lunch is also provided with the Friday meal pick up.

So, there you go. Fight the snack monster, keep your kids fueled, and help out the Warrick Co. Food and Nutrition Dept just by picking up a FREE lunch!