Grab-and-go lunches help during pandemic
November 2, 2020
Recently, since the start of the 2020-2021 school year, Morton East has been providing free school lunches to all their students; East is currently doing about 300 grab-and-go lunches daily, according to the school food service manager.
The quality of school lunches has been a huge discussion since the early 2000s, with concerns of health issues for adolescence and portion sizes. According to Harvard Medical School, “working all morning at school burns up a lot of energy, so children need healthy lunches to refuel. Children also need lunch to provide enough energy and nutrients to keep healthy and grow as well as possible.” Nonetheless, many students depended on school lunch as an important daily meal, and schools have continued to serve those in need although schools are now remote. According to a random survey of 25 Morton East students, all 25 students agreed that schools that have provided lunches have helped students tremendously.
“Being able to grab lunch every day has helped not only me but my family as well, having a big change that COVID has put us through, it is hard for families to supply all three meals of the day,”senior Sanaa Williams said.
Elizabeth Tinken, manager of the food service staff, explained all efforts that went into giving students and their families food during the pandemic.
“The food service staff has been working continuously since March when the lockdown started. At East, through the summer, we fed the community an average of 1800 grab and go meals,” food service staff manager Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Tinken said.
And, food service and our lunch ladies continue to provide.
“Currently, we are offering meals to be picked up daily at East and Lincoln. Morton East students have the option of coming daily to pick up lunch or they can choose a 5-day meal pack. The community is welcome to pick up a daily lunch for anyone under the age of 18,” Elizabeth Tinken said.
Pick up time runs from 10:30 to 1 p.m. The school also offers supper Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; supper can also be picked up during lunch service. Overall, providing lunches for students has helped families throughout the community in these times of need.
Loading ...
Rolando Carreno - Belmares • Feb 9, 2021 at 1:29 pm
Belmares- I believe the free school lunches are of great use for many families. Not every family is able to provide food for themselves and their kids on a daily basis. Which is why the free lunches are of great help, especially in these times of corona virus more than ever. With many people losing their jobs, they rely on these lunches for food.
Yadhira Hernandez • Nov 5, 2020 at 10:04 pm
(Judge) Its great that schools have been providing family’s food. I like the article it explains a lot on how convenient it is especially those who really need it.
Emily Martinez • Nov 5, 2020 at 1:38 pm
(Judge) I think this article is really important, and can help people that don’t get enough food.
Daniel Vazquez • Nov 5, 2020 at 1:34 pm
(Judge) Very good article, Gives a lot of good information. They added quotes and that’s one thing I like about articles
Samari Valdez • Nov 5, 2020 at 1:13 pm
(Judge) i think they did a good job on the article and I was interested throughout the whole thing.
Miguel A Sanchez • Nov 5, 2020 at 9:44 am
Judge) Lunches that are provided from the school helps student who need breakfast or lunch. And The school System on how its working was good information
Isaias Vega • Nov 5, 2020 at 8:59 am
(Judge) Great article, brings up a lot of great information, and includes great comments from many of the people involved.
Evelyn Carranza • Nov 5, 2020 at 8:13 am
(Judge) I thought this article was very good. I liked how you added lots of information and provided some quotes. I just think you should have added students opinions on how it has impacted them.
Diana Juarez • Nov 5, 2020 at 8:12 am
(Judge) Good Job! the article gave us enough information regarding the school lunches. One thing I would add is more quotes from students since they are the ones getting them.
Diana Juarez • Nov 5, 2020 at 8:12 am
Good Job! the article gave us enough information regarding the school lunches. One thing I would add is more quotes from students since they are the ones getting them.
Jaime Trevino • Nov 5, 2020 at 8:01 am
(Judge) This was a good article. It helps explain the school lunch system and informs us even about a study that proves that school lunches help replenish energy. it Tells us that the team that makes it happen works very hard making these lunches.
Christian Lezama • Nov 5, 2020 at 12:54 am
I liked how the reporter had quotes from students who benefit from getting lunches from school. But I would’ve liked to know what kind of stuff they are giving out.
Chantal Garcia • Nov 5, 2020 at 12:18 am
(Judge) This article is amazing. Very well written. With the number of quotes from the school and staff to even adding the time when lunches and breakfast are available for pick up is amazing. I agree with the information in the article. These lunches have helped a lot of families who have been struggling with money right now due to the pandemic. Since many families have more than 1 child (some even up to 6), these lunches help feed so many students and families. Very helpful and I am glad the school is doing this during the pandemic and continues to do so. Amazing article. (:
Alejandra Alvarez • Nov 4, 2020 at 10:31 pm
(Judge) I really enjoyed reading this article it provides plenty of information and it was very easy to read.
Diana Flores • Nov 4, 2020 at 6:24 pm
(Judge) Great article! This article definitely stated enough information to help us understand how the school is helping families during these difficult times. I also think the author did a good job adding information form multiple sources.
victoria palacios • Nov 4, 2020 at 5:26 pm
(Judge) great article! it provides plenty of information about the necessary lunches many students advantage from! Also, it was great the reporter provided when ana where to to pick up a lunch !!
Victoria Palacios • Nov 4, 2020 at 5:08 pm
(Judge) Great article! it definitely provides the information on the meals given ti those who need them during these times. I also appreciate how they provide information on how get these meals. I find it very nice how the reporter compiled information and other people from the school to give us their opinion and what they have to say.
Katherine Gomez • Nov 4, 2020 at 3:52 pm
(Judge) I like this article. It’s easy to read and gives a lot of information.This was done flawlessly.
Elijah Rodriguez • Nov 4, 2020 at 2:06 pm
The reporter did a great job of making the article flow with ease; it’s easy to read and digest (no pun intended). It also provides vital information to direct the reader on how to get these meals, which is considerate! Reading the rest of the comments, I can agree that I would’ve loved to read a quote from a lunch lady! I think they would provide interesting information and share the process of getting these meals ready, but that can easily be an article on its own.
Ozziel Fernandez • Nov 4, 2020 at 1:07 pm
I think you did a great job on this article. You have a lot of good information that backs up your reasoning and how you went really in dept. with the researching and you found about how important the topic of school lunches has been here since 2001. I like how for the quotes you asked the correct people like people that work in the food department. Maybe I would make this article a little longer and add more info about how this lunches impacted the community in a good way but this was a good article.
Lorena Cabrales • Nov 4, 2020 at 10:27 am
You did great on your article you have a lot of good information. One thing I would just change is adding the lunch ladies since there the ones who serve the lunches and ask them about how there day goes throughout the day and how they feel about it.
Evelyn Alvarez • Nov 4, 2020 at 10:24 am
Judge) Great job on the article. It definitely provides us with enough information about the school helping families during these tough times. I think these lunches being provided have helped immensely because everyone’s home situation is different and these might be extremely helpful to some families since they’re free.
Emmanuel Velasco • Nov 4, 2020 at 10:22 am
Judge. I believe the author did a great job at compiling information from multiple sources, and then expounding on that information to more accurately convey the information.
Irene Carrera • Nov 4, 2020 at 9:25 am
I think you did a great job on your article, I like how you put a lot of information and I think you should of added the lunch ladies opinion and how their days go when they are serving lunches.
Rodrigo Reynaga • Nov 4, 2020 at 8:36 am
This article looks good. It has plenty of information on the topic and it has a few quotes. One note I do have is that this article needs more quotes from students; afterall, they are the ones receiving most of the lunches. My other note is, as the last comment pointed out, is that this article could use some more research and background information. Apart from that, this article is good.
Reporter • Nov 4, 2020 at 8:24 am
The reporter did a phenomenal job grabbing quotes from the lunch staff members. These lunches truly couldn’t be provided without them and the reporter made sure to incorporate the opinions of the lunch supervisors and lunch ladies, using smooth transitions as well. However, the reporter could have conducted their research a little more analytically and informative. Providing a few more facts and details could have informed the readers more in depth of the context.