With the new school year set to begin on Monday with 100 percent in-person learning, Nutrition Services is ending its campus curbside pickup and apartment complex delivery programs for summer meals.
The final distributions for both programs are Thursday, Aug. 19. Pickups and deliveries on that day will include three days’ worth of student meals, hand sanitizer, and masks. No further distributions are scheduled.
Continue readingWith just three weeks left in the school year and public health conditions improving across the city, the Houston Independent School District is preparing to shut down its Neighborhood Supersite community food distribution program.
The two final distributions will be held this Wednesday, May 26, 2021 and next Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Both will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. at Barnett Stadium, 6800 Fairway Drive. No further Saturday distributions are scheduled.
Continue readingHundreds of cars idled under a grey sky with trunks ajar on Saturday as Nutrition Services worked to load them full of bags, heavy with holiday turkeys, groceries, and other household supplies.
Jessie Eagle was among those in line. She spent hours snaking through the parking lot, using the time to knit a scarf — a handmade holiday present — out of forest green yarn.
The mom of three said she was laid off earlier this year due to the pandemic, so she came to HISD’s Neighborhood Supersite at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Saturday for help.
Continue readingFacing 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.
Continue readingNutrition 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.
Continue readingA 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.
Continue readingAs the school year wraps up, the Houston Independent School District is revving up its nutrition outreach efforts with the launch of curbside summer meals for students and the Fresh Bus produce delivery program.
The programs come on the heels of the district’s successful community food distribution initiative, which ran for nine weeks following HISD’s closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coordinated by HISD in partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the program, provided nearly 7 million pounds of food to more than 160,000 families during that time.
“When everything around us was shutting down due to the pandemic, it became essential for us to be there for our students and their families,” HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said. “I’m proud of the hard work and dedication that went into this effort. Remarkably, we were able to impact so many families.”
The district is aiming to build upon that success with the launch if it’s annual and state-mandated summer meals program, which begins June 1. Families will be able to pick up packaged student meals twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays at one of 71 designated schools across the district. Families will receive several days’ worth of food per child.
HISD Curbside Summer Meals
When Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan arrived at the HISD Hexser T. Holliday Food Service Center, she was eager to tour facility operations, but precautions had to be taken first.
Upon entering the facility, her temperature was taken just footsteps inside the door — a safety precaution and clear sign of the times as the world endures the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the weeks since our district closed, we’ve worked hard to meet the needs of our community,” Lathan said. “This visit is a great opportunity to get an up-close look at how the entire food distribution process begins.”
Continue readingFeeding more than 10,000 families five days a week during a pandemic is no easy task. It’s an effort that requires the collaboration of multiple departments across the district to bring it all together.
In just over a month, HISD — working together with the Houston Food Bank — has distributed 2 million pounds of food to more than 60,000 families. That range spans from March 14 through April 18.
“I appreciate the spotlight we’ve received, but it’s not just us,” HISD Nutrition Services Officer Betti Wiggins said, referencing the child nutrition department she leads. “We couldn’t have accomplished this without the help of Community Partnerships and HISD Police.”
Continue readingHISD Nutrition Services Officer Betti Wiggins will share her experiences regarding emergency community feeding during a webinar sponsored by food service publications.
Wiggins will participate in a panel discussion to explore how school districts are utilizing different methods to provide nutritious meals through the COVID-19 pandemic. The “K-12 Child Nutrition: Serving students and families during COVID-19” webinar will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 21.
The webinar is sponsored by the editorial teams of Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, and Food Management magazines. She will be joined by Minneapolis Public Schools Director of Culinary and Wellness Services Bertrand Weber and Londonderry School District Director of Dining Services Amanda Venezia.
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