Friday, March 29, 2024

With schools closed, area staff, volunteers work hard to feed students

While a picture is worth a thousand words, there are times that it still does not get the job done. “This is just a snapshot of a loving, caring, and dedicated community!” VHS Superintendent Josh Stafford said, sharing photo of the Vienna High School cafeteria packed with staff and stacked high with cardboard boxes. “All five of our schools: Buncombe, Cypress, New Simpson Hill, Vienna Grade, and the high school, have been working hard to respond to things beyond their control”.

Stafford wanted to highlight the many other community efforts that are going into keeping area students fed during the shutdown, like JRuiz Construction providing Vienna Grade School a check for a $1,000 donation as Superintendent Greg Frehner was out delivering meals. School bus drivers, staff, and volunteers are also manning distribution locations, while cooks are coming together and coordinating, pooling resources, and ordering food within the strict limitations which have been imposed. Custodial staff are cleaning and sanitizing of every surface in the schools, including the cardboard boxes food deliveries arrive in.

Stafford also noted that school staff that are coordinating meal counts and delivery routes are receiving numerous calls, emails, and texts from people wanting to know how they can help. Teachers doing their best to respond to student’s educational needs and are answering all sorts of questions. “I don’t have a picture of the smiling faces of kids and families in our community that are being served and taken care of in a very strange and unexpected time”, Stafford said in an email to community partners, “…[but] I want to thank each and every one of you.”