OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Students within the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District region will continue to receive free meals during the school closure.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Thursday that schools will remain closed for the rest of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools were originally set to be closed for three weeks.
Instead of in-person instruction, school districts are adapting to remote learning for the remainder of the year.
During the week of March 22, Ottawa ISD served nearly 95,000 meals to students; about half of those were breakfast.
There are 11 districts within the Ottawa ISD.
“Providing meals to students may alleviate some of the stress caused by this unprecedented time,” Ottawa Area ISD Director of Facility Management and Transportation Angela Brown said. “It is heartwarming to see school staff and volunteers working together to serve all children and their families in our community.”
As of April 2, the food teams for Hudsonville and Jenison served nearly 37,000 meals in the community. Holland Public Schools has partnered with Kids Food Basket and Hand2Hand to provide meals.
As this continues into the future, it will assist with student remote learning. This has been a herculean effort to prepare and distribute this volume of meals and I am grateful for all those involved," Holland Public Schools Superintendent Brian Davis said.
A map of where meals are being distributed can be found on the Ottawa Area ISD website.
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