West Chicago High scales holiday meal packs into permanent program after PTAC proposal

Administrators told PTAC on April 16 that the holiday meal-distribution program, which began as a PTAC idea, delivered about 6,400 meals this school year at a cost of roughly $50,000 and will continue as a regular school-funded service.

School leaders described distribution tallies included in the meeting packet: 440 meal packs (about 1,760 meals) at Thanksgiving, two winter distributions (double-counted in the packet) and 600 meal packs (2,400 meals) at spring break. The administration said the total distributed this year was nearly 6,400 meals and the program cost "about $50,000." The food-service partner prepares and packages the meals for distribution.

Administrators said the program was moved from a volunteer-led effort with the West Chicago Food Bank to a district-backed, contracted service to provide reliable capacity. The food-service vendor (referred to as the Quest in the meeting) prepares and freezes the meal packs and works with school staff to distribute them as students leave school.

The administration emphasized there is no eligibility check: any family who needs food can take meals. Staff said they have not seen stigma associated with the distribution and praised student behavior during past events. "We haven't seen a single moment of a student saying something or belittling another or any kind of negativity," an administrator said.

Ending: Administrators said they plan to continue and expand meal distributions and thanked PTAC members for the idea that led to an institutional commitment to food support.