Category Archives: Nutrition Services

From classroom delivery to grab-and-go, Nutrition Services continues to reinvent lunch

Lunchtime for Tracey Crawley’s first-grade class looks a bit different these days.

Instead of eating in a bustling cafeteria, the Gregory-Lincoln Education Center students now have lunch delivered directly to their classroom. Though different, it’s something the students still look forward to — especially on chicken nuggets day.

“It’s like second nature now,” Crawley said about her students’ new lunch model and safety protocols. “The atmosphere is set for them. The food is always on time. Our team has done a great job in making it an easy process.”

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HISD, No Kid Hungry to provide up to 5,000 holiday turkeys to families in need

For a lot of families, the holiday table doesn’t feel complete without a turkey as its centerpiece.

Nutrition Services will be able to provide that holiday hallmark — and a little extra holiday cheer — for up to 5,000 HISD families thanks to a partnership with and generous donation from No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit organization that aims to end child hunger.

Up to 5,000 turkeys will be distributed to Houston families just ahead of HISD’s winter break during Neighborhood Supersites scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12 and Wednesday, Dec. 16. The turkeys are funded by an $80,000 donation from No Kid Hungry.

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HISD increasing food distribution ahead of Thanksgiving break

As the district prepares to close its doors for Thanksgiving, Nutrition Services is ramping up efforts to ensure all students have access to healthy food during the week-long break, which kicks off Monday, Nov. 23.

All campus curbside pickup locations will offer seven days’ worth of student meals on Thursday, Nov. 19 — the final campus curbside pickup date prior to Thanksgiving break. Typically, campus curbside pickups offer three to four days’ worth, but not a week’s worth.

Additionally, a third Neighborhood Supersites will be held at Sugar Grove Academy on Saturday, Nov. 21 — the final community distribution before Thanksgiving. The new location is in addition to two existing distribution sites on Saturdays and one on Wednesdays.

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Nutrition Services outlines health protocols for in-school meals

As in-person instruction continues across HISD, Nutrition Services has partnered with teachers and other campus workers to create a safe and healthy environment for students to be well-fed and ready to learn.

The department has created health and safety protocols to ensure safety and curb the spread of COVID-19. District students are served breakfast and lunch. Individual campuses can choose either the classroom or cafeterias for lunchtime, depending on the needs of each school.

Steps include washing or sanitizing hands and sanitizing tables before meals, as well as requiring masks and physical distancing for all students and staff. Meals are individually wrapped, and students are seated in designated areas to allow for distancing and staggered arrangements.

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Third location added for weekly food distribution

As the holiday season approaches, Nutrition Services is opening a third location for its weekly community distributions of food and other supplies.

Starting Wednesday, Nov. 11, Barnett Stadium will host a weekly Neighborhood Supersite from 2 to 6 p.m. The district had planned to re-launch the Wednesday site this week but there was a delay in the delivery of supplies.

The distribution at the stadium, located at 6800 Fairway Drive, will be in addition to the Saturday sites at Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center and Hexser T. Holliday Food Services Support Center.

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Cafeteria manager works diligently to feed students

Before 9 a.m. on the first day of school, Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center Cafeteria Manager Dony Jules had moved quickly to pack more than 70 student meals.

It may seem like a lot of work, but it was a slow start for someone who is used to feeding students by the thousands.

Jules is one of the hundreds of Nutrition Services staff who helped prepare and distribute meals to families at community food distributions during the early months of COVID-19 pandemic.

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Nutrition Services launches Neighborhood Supersites to feed community

Facing hundreds of cars in a line that stretched down the street and around the block, it would have been easy for Nutrition Services staff to feel overwhelmed at their first neighborhood supersite in southeast Houston.

But for a department known for its dedication to keeping families fed and well-nourished, it was all in a day’s work on Wednesday — the launch of weekly community food distributions.

Hosted through a partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the supersites provide a place where Houstonians can go each week to pick up 32-pound family food packages and a week’s worth of student meals.

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HISD transitioning to twice-weekly curbside meal pickup, launching weekly community food distributions

As the district prepares to resume in-person learning this month, Nutrition Services is transitioning from daily to twice-weekly curbside pickup for student meals and launching two Neighborhood Supersites as part of a weekly community food distribution initiative.

The move to twice-weekly campus-based curbside pickup begins Monday, Oct. 12 thanks to a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It allows families to pick up several days’ worth of meals at each pickup — three on Mondays and four on Thursdays.

Neighborhood Supersites are designed to provide standing times and locations where the community can pick up 32 pounds of groceries — including produce, dairy, and meat — for their families, as well as a week’s worth of student meals.

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HISD chef selected to lead Texas AgriLife food videos

Nutrition Services Chef Trainer Brittany Jones is used to teaching others how to prepare tasty, nutritious meals. Now she’ll get to share her expertise with others around the state thanks to a virtual learning seminar.

Jones recently visited Texas A&M University where she filmed culinary demonstrations to be included in virtual lessons for the Learn, Grow, Eat, and Go program offered by Texas AgriLife Extension’s Junior Master Gardener program.

Learn, Grow, Eat, and Go curriculum is used in select HISD elementary science classes to teach students about gardening, nutrition, and physical activity to promote long-term health. Nutrition Services hopes to share the new virtual lessons, which complement the in-person curriculum, all HISD elementary teachers via science curriculum coordinators.

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With cafeterias closed, Nutrition Services finds innovative ways to feed students

A group of Windswept Gardens Apartments residents made their way through the complex’s tree-lined central courtyard, which sits just a few hundred yards from the speeding cars and unending traffic of the Southwest Freeway.

Clad in face masks and carefully keeping their distance from each other, the families gathered around a blue tent where HISD’s Nutrition Services staff were handing out student summer meals in the afternoon sun.

The district has long offered a free summer meal program for students throughout the greater Houston community. In previous years, children would come to local schools to eat. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed the game, prompting Nutrition Services to look for innovative and safe ways to feed kids without a cafeteria.

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