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The Jefferson City School District and Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City will partner to begin providing dinner to students while school is closed.
Starting Monday, the JC Schools "Mission Nutrition" program will have new meal delivery bus stops, and dinner will be included in the grab-and-go bags with breakfast and lunch.
The district changed some of the bus stops based on the number of students who have been showing up at stops from the first two weeks of Mission Nutrition and feedback from parents and principals. There are still 41 bus stops, but some locations have changed to deliver to areas that have the highest need.
The bus routes and menu are listed on the JC Schools website, jcschools.us, under "COVID-19 Updates."
Any child age 2-18 can receive meals by showing up to one of the locations. They do not have to be a student in the Jefferson City School District.
Curbside meal pickup at the Boys & Girls Club will end April 17.
The Boys & Girls Club had been providing 50-150 meals a day through its curbside meal pick-up, Executive Director Stephanie Johnson said. Normally, they provide about 225 meals to Boys & Girls Club attendees.
One of the reasons they were delivering fewer meals was because some families did not have transportation, so the Boys & Girls Club contacted JC Schools to include dinner in its meal program, Johnson said. The district also happened to be looking for a way to provide dinner.
"We thought instead of us trying to figure out how to deliver our own, we can make a much greater impact by partnering with schools," said Johnson, who is also a JC school board member.
Now, the Boys & Girls club will provide 500 dinners a day, and the Jefferson City School District will make up for any additional dinners.
The Jefferson City School District has served 900-1,200 students a day through Mission Nutrition - a total of 11,281 students as of Friday.
"We thought that if we could add a third meal to the breakfast and lunch being given, then that just gives us that much more confidence that we're supporting the students that need support during this time," said Ryan Burns, the JC Schools communications director.
Dinner will include meat, vegetables, fruits, whole grains and milk in each meal. It will include directions on how to prepare it and information on what items need to be refrigerated.
Bus drivers will deliver meals from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Grab-and-go meals are available for curbside pickup from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m at the following locations: East, North, Pioneer Trail, South, Thorpe Gordon and West elementary schools, and Lewis and Clark and Thomas Jefferson middle schools.