Doing so has required constant innovation to adapt to changing COVID rules and varying family needs. That means implementing programs like food trucks, which will launch during summer 2021. Designed and run by local teens, the food trucks serve a dual purpose–both delivering meals to families in need and involving older youth, who can sometimes be harder to reach. It also means delivering more than 5,000 “ag-tivity” and “plant-a-seed” kits to homes, to teach kids about gardening and fresh produce, while engaging many students who were chronically absent during the 2020-21 school year because of COVID-19. BCPS even offers “FaceTime with a Farmer”–live virtual field trips to over 3,700 students from 63 area schools–providing lessons from home that connect the dots between agriculture and healthy foods to science, math, social studies and English Language Arts.
In addition to the regular school and summer meals served, more than 25 distribution sites also are offering produce boxes, funded by the City of Baltimore. Since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, BCPS has served more than 75,000 of these pre-packed 20-pound boxes. And last summer, thanks to a partnership with World Central Kitchen, they served another 10,000 boxes to local families. These boxes are even accompanied by YouTube videos with recipe ideas.
BCPS staff take their commitment seriously to ensure students are fed under any circumstances and Elizabeth says she knows from conversations with families that they’re making a real difference. And throughout the summer even when schools are closed, they’ll keep adapting and innovating to make a difference for Baltimore families.
