Students in quarantine can be cut off from daily, reliable food supply

As more and more kids across the state go into quarantine, some aren’t just having to stay back from the classroom, they’re having to stay back from the most reliable source of nutrition they have: their school lunch.

Every Meal is a food pantry in Roseville that works with more than 420 schools across the state. Rob Williams, Every Meal’s president, says they are now on alert for cases when kids have to quarantine suddenly and unexpectedly because that can impact access to the free meals offered at their schools.

"They rely on that meal program at schools to get a lot of their nutrition. When they don’t have that access, when all of a sudden they are home, there might not be food, and that’s what we are seeing in a lot of schools we work with," Williams said.

Williams says, just last week, Every Meal delivered 650 food bags to Anwatin Middle School in Minneapolis after about 100 kids had to suddenly quarantine.

Every Meal has delivered 4.5 million meals to kids since the start of the pandemic. More information can be found at EveryMeal.org.