Food And Hunger During A Pandemic: School Lunch Impact

GPB is exploring the issues of food and hunger in Georgia during the coronavirus pandemic through a video series featuring stories of those who are being affected, and those who are trying to help those in need.

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Tift County School District Nutrition Director Vanessa Hayes

Georgia kindergarten through 12th grade students had almost 30 million free and low cost meals delivered to them after school districts moved to distance learning last spring. An additional estimated 14 million breakfast and lunches were provided over the summer.

As parents struggled with layoffs and loss of income, it became a vital safety net ensuring food insecure children had access to the nutrition they needed. 

Vanessa Hayes, the Tift County School District Nutrition Director, says that it was her mission to find and deliver food to every student who needed it, even as she completely changed the way she normally would have served it up.