MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The partnership to feed students in Mon County is picking up new team members and delivering more than just meals.
Mon County School Board president Ron Lytle says when the program started meal counts increased steadily, last week he says they delivered 1,500 meals and this week the numbers doubled.
“Three-thousand meals, we had some leftover, but those were distributed to students in need,”Lytle said,”So, it was a god day, it was a good chance to fill a need.”
Bartini Prime co-owner Justin Byers has worked along side the schools to help prepare and deliver the food.
“Outreach coordinators got to know these students over the years,”Lytle said,”They know the needs, they know where these kids live and they who needs help at this point.”
Lytle says families register for the Thursday delivery online, then Bartini Prime, school officials and volunteers prepare and deliver them to 15 bus stops in the county.
Lytle says as the need has grown, so has the search for sources.
“Commissioner Kent Leonhardt called me and said we’ve got a lot of food down here,”Lytle said,”That food is generally shipped to schools but everything is shutdown, so everything is sitting there in freezers and freezer trucks at this point. It’s overloaded at this point because it’s not being taken.”
Now, along with a grant from the Mon County commission, volunteer effort from the United Way of Mon and Preston Counties and Pantry Plus More a portion of that food will be boxed and given directly to families.
The meal preparation site has been moved from The Summit Tennis Academy to Mylan Park for the safety of volunteers. Lytle says if there is a group of people that can volunteer to help he can provide a safe work space.
“We can set up an assembly line so they don’t come in contact with anyone else and protect them with gloves or anything they need to help out without being potentially infected.”
Lytle says as the shutdown lingers people are becoming the most important asset.
“The biggest thing we need so we don’t get burned out is more people just to make sure this stays at a six to eight hour operation,”Lytle said,”Instead of a group of 30 to 40 people that are getting bogged down, especially with the new food boxes.”