Clovis Unified delivers meals to students amid school closures

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- School districts across the Valley are working hard to get students the resources they need and for Clovis Unified, that means delivering meals each and every day to thousands of kids while campus is closed.

A Clovis Unified School bus waited patiently at its stop on Friday, but that morning it wasn't there to pick up any students.

Campuses are closed out of precaution to limit the coronavirus spread, so instead it was delivering breakfast and lunch.

"Really it's about getting a little bit of normalcy in the kids' lives," said Clovis Unified School District Spokesperson Kelly Avants. "They see their lunch worker, they see their campus if they're on site, maybe see a school bus in their neighborhood, those are just little moments of normal in lives that have been disrupted significantly."

Students can stop by 44 different locations to receive a meal. The district has already served over 26,000 meals this week. They say they had to shift gears fast to make it happen.

"Shifted abruptly from a Friday afternoon to a Monday to start delivering distance learning, start delivering meals and a meal program," explained Avants.

While they're not skimping on the education during these trying times, the same can also be said about the the menu. For breakfast, students receive items like cereal bars, toast, fruit and yogurt. For lunch it may be a burger or sandwich and, of course, some fruits and veggies.

"We always have emergency plans in place because you just never know what's going to happen on any given day," said Avants, "But the scope of this, the size of this for our entire nation of schools is significant. But our team just got together and put our heads down and said we're going to get it done because our kids need it."

If your student attends a Clovis Unified School you can find a full list of locations for meals on the district website. They plan for students to return to the classroom on April 14th.