Washington Court House City Schools help serve more than 250,000 meals

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio (WCMH) — Since March 16th, the Washington Court House City Schools (WCHCS) Big Blue Bus Summer Food Service Program has served 251,397 free meals to kids 0-18 at stops across Washington Court House, Jeffersonville, and Bloomingburg.

“Thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of our incredible team, we were fully operational on the first day of the shutdown providing a hot lunch and next day breakfast for kids across our county for free at no cost to the local taxpayers,” said Trevor Patton, director of marketing and communications at WCHCS.

The Big Blue Bus is funded primarily through a federal grant through the United States Department of Agriculture, as well as private donations from local partners such as SugarCreek and McDonald’s of Fayette County.

“Using no local tax dollars, this is only made possible by the use of federal grants and private donations, as well as the help of our incredible volunteers,” Patton said.

WCHCS received accolades early on in this pandemic from Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine for their efforts to help fight hunger and provide nutrition while also educating during the unprecedented times.

“This would not have been possible without the dedication to our students by our amazing staff,” Patton said. “In addition to overcoming the obstacles of teaching in a very different environment, our teachers stepped up to volunteer during their lunch hour to feed their students. Our food service teams came together to prepare food for over 1,000 kids a day, and our transportation department drove carefully and efficiently to get food to our kids in a timely manner.”

To donate or volunteer for the Big Blue Bus, visit their website at wchcs.org/bigbluebus.