Milan Special School District continues food deliveries to students

MILAN, Tenn. — With school done for the rest of the year, the Milan High School cafeteria looks a bit like a factory as they package hundreds of meals for students.

“Over 500 on Monday and Tuesday, and over 700 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,” said Vickie Dunaway, the Nutrition Supervisor for the Milan Special School District.

“We are delivering to about 1200, 1250 students,” said Kevin Ellison, Supervisor of Transportation, Safety, and Attendance for the school district.

The staff gets to school around 5 a.m. and the work begins. They package three days worth of meals for each delivery.

“We have it ready for them to come in and start putting things in a bag, putting it together, getting it in the boxes, and then we hand it over to the bus drivers,” Dunaway said.

There’s some unique changes — like delivering pints of milk, rather than individual, single-serving cartons — but the service goes on without a hitch.

“Drivers have adjusted. We’ve got bus monitors that have really helped out, and then we’ve got a lot of volunteers,” Ellison said.

“We just continue to pick up numbers. Each week we have more meals going out, as people see what we’re doing,” Dunaway said.

The rain may have slowed them down on Wednesday, but it didn’t stop the deliveries.

“We load the buses up with anywhere from 100 to 150 meals, depending on what area,” Ellison said.

With the help of their drivers, the school continues to bring the much needed resources to their students. They say they’re not stopping anytime soon.

“Our school shut on a Monday. By Tuesday, we were packing meals and sending them home with kids. It gives them a kind of normal in a crazy world right now,” Dunaway said.