Free meal program to combine on-site, neighborhood bus delivery and drive-through

The Bullhead City Elementary and Colorado River Union High School Districts are expanding free meal programs available to students on campus and attending school online. The combination of neighborhood delivery by bus, campus grab-and-go, and lunch in school will vary by site.

There will be transitions beginning September 8 and 14. Free breakfasts and lunches will continue to be available for all students 18 and under, regardless of where they attend school, through at least the end of the semester on December 17.

Reinstating the highly successful neighborhood delivery program was sought by many school districts, including BCESD and CRUHSD, requested by parents, and is a direct result of a policy change last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Also gone are restrictions requiring meal pickups at the sites students attend, making it easier for families with children at more than one school.

Neighborhood deliveries start Monday, September 14, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The full list of meal delivery bus stops will be available shortly on the school district’s website, www.crsk12.org. There will be a meal icon on the home page which links to the schedule.

On September 8, the following changes take place:

• The last week of midday drive-through grab-and-go meals will be provided at Desert Valley, Diamondback and Sunrise Elementary Schools, Bullhead City Middle School and Fox Creek Junior High School. One day of meals will be provided on September 8, and two days of meals will be provided on September 9.
• The drive-through grab-and-go meal pick-up times at Mohave and River Valley High Schools will move to 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., to better accommodate students attending online and onsite classes until noon.

On September 14, the grab-and-go meals at the elementary, middle and junior high schools will be eliminated, and transition to the neighborhood deliveries by bus that morning. Students currently receiving on-site support will continue to get free school breakfasts and lunches on campus. So will students returning to campus when in-person instruction begins later this month.

The students’ meal program during the classroom closure is coordinated by Bullhead City Elementary and Colorado River Union High School Districts and Chartwells, the schools’ food service vendor. Meals are available to all children, not just those in the two districts. The USDA’s National School Lunch, School Breakfast and Summer Meal Programs provide healthy meals
which, for many students, are the only nutritious meals of the day. The programs have received bipartisan support since first passed by Congress in 1946.