The Crookston School District has been offering meals to go each school day throughout the year. Food Service Director Anna Ogaard-Brekken said that service will also include 2W workshop days.
Any child up to 18 years old is eligible for the grab & go meals. “Since the school year started, we’ve been doing the grab and go meal service out of the high school,” said Ogaard-Brekken. “That’s available for any student that’s either choosing to distance learn or having to do distance learning because their class is quarantined. I know some high schoolers have taken advantage of that on the days that they’re home. And we’re just choosing to extend it on the days that we’re not in-person. Now that the 2W days have been switched to distance learning days, we’re going to continue to offer the grab and go meal option for the entire school district.”
Families are asked to request meals daily through the district website so the food service staff has a better estimate of how many meals to prepare each day. “We want you to register for the meals this year unlike last spring when it was just first come, first serve,” said Ogaard-Brekken. “That allows my cooks to be able to better estimate how many meals to prepare for the day. There is a spot on the school website (click here), under the food service tab, there is a request for a grab and go lunch. You fill that out any day that you need a meal. You can put up to four students on a form, so if you have a larger family, you can hopefully fit all the students on one form. And you’d pick up your meals between 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. (noon) from the Crookston High School door 15.”
Not only are the meals available for all youth in the community, but the meals are also free through a USDA free meal waiver program the district registered for, which Ogaard-Brekken is hopeful will be extended to include the entire school year. “The free meal waiver that is anticipated to expire on December 31 has been extended by the USDA,” said Ogaard-Brekken. “We are just waiting for guidance from the Department of Education but it would be my hope we’ll be able to extend that free meal waiver through the remainder of the school year. We are in a very fluid situation right now and we’ll be able to communicate with families once that free meal waiver is extended. But for the time being, all Crookston Public Schools meals are free for all students or children 0-18 years. And we hope to continue that throughout the school year because we think that’s been a very nice service for our community.”
Ogaard-Brekken said the meal to go requests have been pretty steady but the district is capable of providing many more each day. “We’ve seen about 10-15 student pickups a day but we’d be capable of doing significantly more,” said Ogaard-Brekken. “So, it’s free, and if you utilize the meal service program it doesn’t take away from anyone. Anyone who utilizes it gets a free meal. We can give away as many as request them. And really it helps the foodservice program out as well because we get reimbursed per meal that is given out from the Department of Agriculture.”
HOW TO GET A MEAL:
1. Request a Grab-and-Go meal by 10:00 AM of the day of service by using the Meal Request Form. Meal requests can be placed multiple days ahead of time.
2. Pick up your meal(s) on the day in which it was requested between 11:00 AM-12:00 PM at Crookston High School door #15.
We ask that you wear a mask and practice social distancing when picking up your requested meal(s).
If you have any questions about this service, please contact Anna Ogaard-Brekken at or (218) 281-5313 ext. 7.
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