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FUHS distributes thousands of Thanksgiving dinners

A week ahead of Thanksgiving, the Fallbrook Union High School District's Food Services Department provided thousands of area children and their families with a Thanksgiving box as part of its meal distribution program on Thursday, Nov. 19.

The program, which on average serves more than 900 children every Tuesday and Thursday for the duration of most of the COVID-19 pandemic, wanted to do something special for the holiday.

But first, they had to figure out the logistics.

"We thought, how do we prepare a meal that maybe can be used as a basis for Thanksgiving that isn't going to overload their refrigerators and freezers, because that's a problem for a lot of people," Judi Reynolds, Director of Food Services, said. "What we were thinking is how can we give them something that they can make a meal of if they don't have much money, or if they have a little bit of money, they can add their own touches.

Included in the packages handed out Thursday morning and afternoon was a ham, carrots, celery, potatoes, cans of cream of mushroom soup, grapes, a whole pizza, milk and chocolate milk, a pumpkin pie, and more.

They partnered with Albertsons and Grocery Outlet to obtain items that they don't generally obtain from their food distributor.

"Our distributor, they mostly do schools," Reynolds said. "So, those are the two that we purchased from. We got 5,000 pounds of ham from Albertsons, 3,000 cans of green beans, 1,500 cans of soup, 1,500 boxes of cereal. So, it's been really good."

FUHSD Superintendent Ilsa Garza-Gonzalez said providing the meals for their families is about more than just feeding people.

"This whole time with the shutdown, we've been trying to convey the message that even though we are closed, we are still very much invested in the health and wellbeing of our students," she said. "It really has shifted to any young person that lives in our community. We know it's been difficult to not have the schools open, but even in the summertime when we had staff volunteering at the grab-and-go, that was the highlight. To be able to see a student come through that food line and say hi to their teachers and their administrators.

"It really has been about sending the message of 'we haven't forgotten you. We're still here for you.' We know that the food piece is a very important component."

Garza-Gonzalez said more than 60% of the district's students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

"Which then triggers the school to be one where we can provide that service to all students," she said. "When we were faced with how do we keep our employees' health and welfare in mind and not work them to death every day but still provide that high quality food?"

Garza-Gonzalez lauded the staff for their continued work throughout the year in preparing unique and interesting food options for students. She said the district's food department reminds her of the food options she had when she was a kid.

"It's really nice to see that here, they still put that much care and attention into the care and attention of feeding children, even though it requires a lot more work," she said.

She said the food services department will go as far as to bring out a grill and serve freshly-made hamburgers or hotdogs to students.

"We do from scratch items every day," Reynolds said. "Usually some sort of sandwich or burrito and then either spaghetti or chili or nachos ... we kind of just mix it up a little bit.

"For us, the staff that we have is very much concerned with what the kids will want to eat and what would we want to feed our kids. We try to make sure that the quality is something we would be proud to serve our (own) kids, our families, our guests."

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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