South Philadelphia Charter School Gives Away Meals to the Community

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- School may be closed for a few weeks during the Coronavirus shutdown, but some teachers and staff at Thomas Elementary in South Philadelphia aren't taking a break.

"It's weird not having students at the school right now but we're happy to be able to see families even if it's from a distance in the cars," said Principal Emily Myers.

Her team packed more than 900 meals so that kids and their families who rely on the free food at school don't go hungry.

"Knowing what's happening in the stores and things going off the shelves we wanted to continue to lean into our value of we serve. Making sure our families have exactly what they need, especially during the time of uncertainty," said Myers.

The meals are already included in the charter school's federal funding...so what this effort needed was a few dedicated volunteers like Frank Rivera, the building engineer.

"We know they don't have much at home so they can come to the school, pick up their food, head home, have lunch for today, tomorrow, breakfast for the whole week," said Rivera.

The volunteers all wore gloves and even set up cones spaced several feet apart so people walking up to get the meals could practice safe social distancing.

Myers says the team plans to come back out on Thursday and continue the giveaways at least twice a week until school is back in session.

"They're just really grateful and thankful; happy to see some normal faces and happy to be outside for a few minutes," she said.