Fort Worth ISD announces major changes to ‘Meals to Go’ program to increase safety
The Fort Worth school district is making major changes to its “Meals to Go” program to improve the safety of families and staff, the district announced Tuesday.
The program, which provides meals to children ages 2 to 18, will change from daily distribution to a two-day a week schedule.
The district will give each child six meals on Mondays and Thursdays rather than one meal a day Monday through Friday.
The change will allow the district to provide more meals to kids, increase social distancing and reduce the number of gatherings, the district said in a news release. The changes also follow the Texas Department of Agriculture’s revised regulations.
The new schedule will start Tuesday, April 14 because Monday is a school holiday. The next distribution day will be Thursday, April 16, followed by Monday, April 20.
Other changes are being made immediately to the program. Meals will now be served between noon and 1:30 p.m., and the “Meals To Go” site at Southwest High School will permanently relocate to Woodway Elementary School, 6701 Woodway.
The district will not distribute meals on April 10 (Good Friday). Normally on Fridays, students get a lunch and a breakfast for Saturday. Instead, breakfast and lunch for Friday and Saturday, April 10-11, will be served on Thursday, April 9 at all sites.
Also, parents are now required to provide one form of identification for each child’s meal if the child does not accompany the adult.
Acceptable forms of identification are:
- Student ID badge.
- Birth certificate.
- Old student report card.
- FWISD letter/email listing children enrolled.
- Meal application approval letter listing children enrolled.
- Government benefit letter listing children (SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, etc.).
From March 16 — when the program started — to March 31, the district distributed 89,088 meals at 18 sites. As of Tuesday, the district had served 52,294 meals.
Fort Worth ISD spokesman Clint Bond said the increase in meals being served is due to increased awareness of the program.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 6:36 PM.
