Chester County students receive grab and go meals

CHESTER CO., Tenn. — Schools systems across West Tennessee are making sure their students don’t go hungry.

Usually cars pulling up to Chester County High School would be dropping off students, but Thursday morning, they were picking up food.

“It’s a grab and go. We’ll have cafeteria workers that will be distributing the food out to the families who drive through,” said Troy Kilzer, Chester County Director of Schools.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Chester County schools are closed until March 31.

Cafeteria workers got to the high school at 6 Thursday morning to prepare all the food.

And with 2,800 students in the district, that’s a lot of brown bags.

And the process of picking up your food in Chester County is very simple. Just pull up to the blue tents, tell the workers how many kids you have in the car. They’ll give you a hot and cold meal for each plus two kinds of milk, making sure the kids stay full while schools are out.

Kilzer says 50% of their students receive reduced price or free meals at lunch every day.

In just the first 15 minutes of passing out the breakfast and lunches, they gave out more than 50 bags.

“We are stepping up to the plate. And, taking care of the needs we have in our community, we are a vital part of the community, and our kids and our families can count on us to come through with this opportunity,” Kilzer said.

They’ll be handing out the bags at the high school each week day from now until March 31.

Anyone 18 or younger can get the breakfast and lunch no matter where they go to school, but they must be present to get the food.