If you want to know something about kids in this community, ask a bus driver. These mama and papa bears spend five days a week with their young charges, sometimes 2-3 hours a day. Drivers know where kids live, when their birthdays are, what kind of home life they have. All too often, they know which kids are hungry.
So, last week, when schools closed because of concern about the pandemic, bus drivers knew that some of the children wouldn’t be getting their regular breakfasts and lunches and would be hungry without it.
So they devised a plan. They’d take the breakfasts and lunches to the kids on their regular route. Sounds simple enough, but because they’d never done anything like this before, there was no playbook- it was a work in progress. I heard an administrator say, “We’re building the airplane as it’s taking off.”
Besides the bus drivers, it requires an army of people to pull off “Operation Bus-Lunch” (that’s my name for it). Administrators and managers are devising the plan, tweaking it on the fly. Teachers, Para-pros, and volunteers are helping load busses and deliver food. And the lunchroom staff is going above and beyond, taking food that they would have ordinarily served in their cafeterias and packing it into individual bags to deliver to the kids.
Tuesday morning was the maiden voyage. I drove through the misty gloom and showed up at 8:30 am to Central Elementary School where I found a row of busses pulling in and being loaded up by drivers and volunteers. I reported to the principal, Matthew Huckeba. I asked him if he was surprised by the passionate response of his school (and other schools in the county). He said, “I’m not surprised. Anytime we’ve ever had a need, this community has met it. That’s what we do. Kids in our county depend on these meals for nutrition and we’ve got to get it to them.”
I was assigned to Miss Ann’s bus. She is a veteran of the bus fleet and has driven her same route for seven years. I asked her why she was doing this. She replied firmly, “I’ve got to get food to my babies.” As we made the rounds to some of the most underserved neighborhoods in the county, I began to understand why Operation Bus Lunch was so important.
When the bus pulled up in front of houses, we were announced by the HISSSS of the airbrakes. Suddenly little faces appeared in the windows, curious about the unexpected appearance of the bus. Some kids approached shyly, but as Miss Ann called them by name, they brightened and ran out- happy to see her familiar face in the middle of all this uncertainty.
The first day we delivered, many of the families were still unaware of the program and we only served 70 kids. This morning, kids were expecting us and stood at their regular bus stops, waving at us as we approached. Some were sleepy heads, dragging out of the house sock-footed, but still grateful to get breakfast. We followed Miss Ann’s list carefully, to make sure no one was left out. And if the child wasn’t waiting for us, we packed up lunches and knocked on doors, trying to make sure everyone had their food for the day. Like any good shepherd, Miss Ann knew which of her lambs weren’t present and we didn’t leave until all were accounted for and fed. This morning we served 112 kids with healthy food. Milk, juice, fruit, cereal, cheese, veggies and sandwiches (chips and cookies). This was good nutrition that some of them wouldn’t have access to if the school hadn’t supplied it for them.
Over the next few weeks, if you see a Carroll County school bus on the road, know that it’s loaded with food and headed to feed the children who live in this county. They have all the food they need, but they do need volunteers. There are 140 busses in the fleet in the Carroll County school system, so that means we need 280 helpers a day.
It’s easy to volunteer. If you’re between the ages of 18-60 and are currently healthy, email or call Donna Folds at donna.folds@carrollcountyschools.com or 678-854-2319. You can help for a single day, or more. They’ll put you where you’re needed.
I know what you’re thinking- is it safe? It’s probably safer than going to Wal-Mart. Every day the bus drivers clean their busses- spraying them down with Virex and Lysol spray (all surfaces, windows, floor, seats) Volunteers handle food that’s been prepared in a pristinely clean kitchen by healthy lunchroom workers (no one is allowed to work if they have flu symptoms) and we wear disposable gloves on the route. Contact with the families is limited- just handing a sack of food out of the bus.
What is contagious? Miss Ann’s love for her kids. Over the past two days I’ve started to learn their names and their stories. (Children that are raised by their grandparents, a girl who lost her mother to cancer, kids that live with friends because of homelessness). The best part? For the past few days as I’ve bumped across the Carroll County countryside in a big yellow bus, it’s gotten my mind off of my own troubles and reawakened my awareness of the needs of my neighbors here in Carroll County.