Fort Worth pastors want churches to talk to hard-to-reach during coronavirus crisis
Contagion, containment, confusion and concern.
For many parents who depend on the Fort Worth school district to provide their children with nutritious meals during the day, becoming infected by the novel coronavirus is not their immediate worry.
The problem some of those parents have to address is arranging a way to feed children who are at home instead of school. Some parents count on the Fort Worth school district to feed their children breakfast and lunch, and they have been able to rely on that resource for years.
This is the day that changed.
Some local pastors say they believe their churches could act as a resource to provide better, more accurate information to members of their community and provide points of contact to deliver much-needed services.
“This community is facing an evolving crisis and we don’t know where we will end up in the long run,” said Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks. “But people don’t live in the long run — they live in the day-to-day.”
The main concerns expressed by a group of African-American pastors at a news conference held Monday at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church was making sure vulnerable populations were cared for during this time of closures and service interruptions.
“Our top priority is to make sure every child is fed at least twice a day,” says Pastor K.P. Tatum Sr., of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church and spokesman for the group that sponsored the news conference, Faith and Community Leaders United.
What the school district is planning on doing is inadequate, and plans to care for the elderly and infirm are also hazy, Tatum said.
“There is great concern about the lack of information from the government in the community,” Tatum said. “What are we going to do to take care of those vulnerable populations? What we need to do is not panic, but plan.”
Pastor William T. Glynn, whose church hosted the news conference, echoed those concerns.
“We need to know what everyone is doing,” Glynn said. “Right now, everyone is working in a silo.”
Fort Worth ISD officials said on Friday they were working with the Tarrant Area Food Bank to prepare “to go” lunches that students could pick up at eight school buildings on weekdays during the closure. The schools began offering those meals on Monday. Children must show up in person to get food. Any child 18 or younger can get a meal during the scheduled hours; they don’t have to be Fort Worth ISD students, school officials said.
The district is one of several throughout Tarrant County that has extended its spring break by at least two weeks, acting on guidance from county public health officials.
There are 82,000 children in the Fort Worth school district who qualify for free lunches as well as 96 schools that qualify for a program where students can have meals at no cost regardless of financial background. School districts across the country including Fort Worth ISD have had to grapple with the impact of closing schools on students who rely on lunches.
Churches are available to provide information and support to those in need so everyone can be on the same page, Tatum said.
Superintendent Kent P. Scribner said in a news release on Saturday that the district’s Child Nutrition Services Department and their vendor Sodexo will provide healthy “to-go” lunches from food trucks from Monday-Friday at eight district schools.
Pastors also said the elderly who are sick and home-bound should not be left out of the equation, and the African-American churches might also be a way to care for them and keep them better informed.
While the pastors commended local government officials for the things they have already done, there was an information gap and confusion about who is doing what, Tatum said.
The district provided a list of the schools and when the meals will be available Monday through Friday:
▪ Meals will be available from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Springdale Elementary School at 3207 Hollis St.
▪ Meals will be available from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Manual Jara Elementary School at 2100 Lincoln Ave.
▪ Meals will be available from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Western Hills Elementary School at 2805 Laredo Drive.
▪ Meals will be available from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Hubbard Heights Elementary School at 1333 W. Spurgeon St.
▪ Meals will be available from 10 to 11:30 am. at Paul L. Dunbar High School at 5700 Ramey Ave.
▪ Meals will be available from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Eastern Hills High School at 5701 Shelton St.
▪ Meals will be available from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Clifford Davis Elementary School at 4300 Campus Drive.
▪ Meals will be available from noon to 1:30 p.m. at De Zavala Elementary School at 1419 College Ave.
This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 6:43 PM.
