Marty Johnson will never forget Tuesday, March 17, 2020. That was the day the schools in Wilkes County, North Carolina, forced into remote learning by COVID-19, began serving hot daily meals to every student who wanted them. Johnson and his food services team anticipated serving 1,000 meals that first day. They served 6,000.

They would learn that the need wasn’t going to end in a few weeks or even a year. They would also learn that they were delivering more than just meals. They were offering security, love and compassion.

In Wilkes County’s 9,300-student school district, one in three students is food insecure — up from one in five before the pandemic. At first, Wilkes County Schools (WCS) set up a meal delivery system with 21 drive-thru pick-up sites and school bus deliveries covering 757 square miles.

The nutrition services team worked long shifts, but so did school board members, teachers and volunteers from the community. Businesses and nonprofit partners also stepped forward. A local business assisted with supply chain issues by sourcing lunch trays.

The Health Foundation, a local nonprofit, stepped in to serve and deliver food, providing two weeks of respite to weary WCS workers.

As a member of Healthy Wilkes, a regional health improvement coalition supported by the Endowment, Johnson understands how important proper nutrition is to safeguarding overall health. So as the pandemic evolved and the school system’s approach adapted, the WCS nutrition team positioned its food delivery model to match the new hybrid learning schedule. Whether students were attending in person or remotely, they would continue to receive a hot meal.

“One day, we saw a child who was so hungry that when he picked up his meal, he sat down and ate it right in that minute,” Johnson says. For school board members, staff and volunteers who helped with the effort, the experience saddened them, but it also motivated them to do more.

EVERYONE THOUGHT PEOPLE HAD FOOD; THEY WEREN’T AWARE OF JUST HOW DEPENDENT SOME FAMILIES ARE ON SCHOOLS FOR THEIR FOOD.