CINCINNATI — One of the biggest challenges schools face during remote learning is getting meals to those who need them most.

What You Need To Know

  • Cincinnati Public Schools is distributing meals to suburban areas of the district

  • As of January CPS distributed 2.5 million meals to children during the pandemic

  • Trucks will return every Wednesday in January

 

As of January, Cincinnati Public Schools have served more than 2.5 million meals to children in its district who are learning at home.

Starting Jan. 13, CPS expanded those efforts, using two trucks to reach children further from their downtown hubs.

The first stop Wednesday was on the edge of Colerain Township at the Shadymist Apartments.

A woman, who identified herself as Camille, was one of the last to pick up a week's worth of meals for her two teenage children.

"It’s hard out here," she said. "Food Stamps are still low and they ain’t really working with us. We need food.”

Cincinnati Dining Services packed roughly 500 meal packs to distribute for the day. Each contained a week's worth of breakfast and lunch.

Assistant Supervisor Justin Frazer has been overseeing the meal packing for several months.

Frazer said this is just an extension of what dining services do regularly.

“We’ve been able to keep all our staff working through this remote time," he said. "It’s a great opportunity that the kids to get that sense of being at school when they have this lunch.”

CPS has been distributing most of their meals at hub locations close to downtown Cincinnati but they recognized a growing need in the outlying areas of the district.

Census data shows one in five Hamilton County children live in poverty and that poverty is growing in suburban communities.

CPS hopes their efforts can help those children get two nutritious meals a day.

The trucks will visit these sites again on Jan. 20 and Jan. 27.

Route 1
9–9:45 a.m. — Shadymist Apartments, 5890 Shadymist Lane, 45239
10–10:45 a.m. — Colerain/Bahama Terrace, 5498 Bahama Terrace, 45223
11–11:45 a.m. — Hawaiian Terrace, 5126 Hawaiian Terrace, 45223
Noon–12:45 p.m. — Bethany House, 3924 Yearling Court, 45211
1 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. — Aspen Village, 2703 Erlene Drive, 45238

Route 2
9–9:45 a.m. — Findlater Gardens, 595 Strand Lane, 45232
10–10:45 a.m. — Silver Oaks, 5670 Winneste Avenue, 45232
11–11:45 a.m. — Winton Terrace, 4848 Winneste Avenue, 45232
Noon–12:45 p.m. — Millvale Apartments, 2269 Millvale Court, 45225
1–1:45 p.m. — Stanley Rowe Towers, 835 Poplar Street, 45214