One Million Meals Served in Response to COVID-19

At Woodfin Elementary, one family joined their school in celebrating the millionth meal served in Buncombe County.

By: Benjamin Rickert
BCS Communications Dept.

A Woodfin Elementary family received an especially warm welcome to their school’s meal site on Tuesday, June 2, as staff cheered for their arrival in celebration of the millionth bagged meal served by Buncombe County Schools since the onset of the pandemic.

The staff’s receiving line ran nearly the length of the school as the Morgan family arrived on bicycles so kindergarten student Ben Morgan could enjoy a nutritious meal by Woodfin’s garden. As he pedaled, Ben was thrilled to see his principal and the Nutrition team waiting for him with big smiles and a sign that read, “1,000,000th Meal Served!”

“It’s been absolutely amazing, the support that they’ve had for all of the families,” said Emily Morgan, Ben’s mother and a volunteer for Woodfin’s after-school gardening club.

“It’s pretty wild. That’s a big number,” added father Jason Morgan. “We’ve been coming here since school became remote and it’s been, really, the highlight of Ben’s day. I think it’s helped him maintain a connection with the school.”

“How did they know that spaghetti is my favorite?” announced Ben with a wide grin when he opened his lunch bag.

Since COVID-19 forced learning online on March 16, BCS Nutrition, volunteers, and other staff have worked tirelessly to provide meals to students, distributing thousands of breakfasts and lunches daily to children at school and community serving sites. On April 24, BCS’ countywide meal count passed the half-a-million milestone. As of June 3, the last day of the school year, BCS had served 1,030,889 handmade, bagged meals in response to COVID-19.

“I just want to to say thank you to our staff,” said Woodfin Elementary principal April Wright. “They’ve sacrificed, they’ve come together from different schools, and they’ve created a family here for the greater good.”

With campuses closed for in-person instruction, creating and distributing meals required nutrition staff to assemble at about a dozen school sites across Buncombe County. Nutrition staff from Woodfin Elementary and the Nesbitt Discovery Academy formed a united team based at Woodfin.

Throughout the summer months, Woodfin Elementary will continue to serve as a meal site as part of the BCS Summer Meals program.

When asked what it was like to serve a million meals to children during a particularly challenging time both locally and globally, nutrition manager Tina Parham of the Discovery Academy gave a simple answer.

“It’s been worth it,” she said.

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Learn more about meals available during the summer months on the BCS Nutrition website.

In this #BCSlive video, watch the Woodfin Elementary and Discovery Academy nutrition teams give a warm welcome to the Morgan family, in anticipation of the millionth meal served! (Video recorded by Jason Brown, School Nutrition Specialist.)

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