The Coffee County Board of Education on Sept. 8 publicly recognized volunteers and staff who ran the district’s summer feeding program, and heard staff say the district distributed roughly 137,000 meals during June and July.
The recognition came during the principals’ reports portion of the board meeting, when a district staff member who led the summer feeding update described the scale of the work and named two managers who organized the effort.
“The group worked regardless of thunderstorms or heat, with cars lined up all over the middle school,” the staff presenter said. “In June we fed around 52,000 meals…July, 84,000 meals. And a grand total of 137,000 meals were fed.”
Board members and the director praised the volunteers and managers by name and noted the program included weekend ‘7‑day packs’ that required packing and refrigeration logistics. The presenter singled out Kelly Arnold and Jessica Pope Antz as managers who “worked tirelessly” on scheduling and packing.
Board members also heard a brief update on the Community Eligibility Provision program: district staff said breakfast and lunch participation increased in August compared with last August, with breakfast rising from 26,870 to 33,711 meals and lunch from 56,850 to 62,800 meals.
The item was informational; no board action was required. Directors and board members thanked volunteers and discussed the need for continued support for summer feeding operations and community outreach to ensure families know about free meal availability.