Closed Schools Providing Meals to Thousands of Students

It’s 10 a.m., the time children should be at school, but parents and children are just passing through Palm Desert Middle School.

Information officer Marry Perry says it’s part of the grab and go meal program at Desert Sands Unified School District, “We’re providing students with a peanut butter jelly sandwich and fruit and milk and we’re also providing them with a muffin for tomorrow morning so then the idea is they come back tomorrow between the hours of 10 and 12 and they can do the same thing.”

With schools ordered closed for weeks to slow down the spread of coronavirus this service is a necessity for many who rely on these meals. But no one is excluded.

“There is no requirement to meet any kind of baseline for the need for meals, if you’re a student and you come to one of our nine sites you will be given both a cold lunch and a breakfast for tomorrow morning,” says Perry. 

Special diets are also being considered.

“Parents who have children with peanut allergies know that even though peanut butter was given out today that we have alternate lunches available as well,” she says.

Planning and preparing these grab and go meals for thousands of students is not easy.

But Perry says nutrition services staff take great pride in this calling, “Our nutrition services workers came to work at 5:00 o’clock this morning and by 9:00 o’clock they had over four thousand meals ready to go … one of them just said to me she said, ‘This is what we do.'”

Perry says curriculum will be rolled out this week but during these unprecedented times learning while crucial is secondary, “The number one thing that we promise is to keep the children safe.”

All districts in the valley are providing meals at specified sites.

Desert Sands Unified:

10:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M.

Eisenhower Community Education Center
Franklin Elementary
Indio High
Jackson Elementary
Johnson Elementary
La Quinta High
Paige Middle
Palm Desert Charter Middle
Shadow Hills High
Van Buren Elementary

Palm Springs Unified:

1. All school bus stops. Our buses will deliver meals at all regularly scheduled morning bus stops
Monday through Friday until further notice. (Buses may be running 5 to 10 minutes behind their
regular scheduled times.)
2. You can pick up breakfast and lunch as a drive-up option between 11:00 AM and 1:30 PM
Monday through Friday at the following locations.

CATHEDRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL
JAMES WORKMAN MIDDLE SCHOOL
LANDAU ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
AGUA CALIENTE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
DESERT SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL
BUBBLING WELLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
RANCHO MIRAGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PALM SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL
RAYMOND CREE MIDDLE SCHOOL
CIELO VISTA CHARTER
CAHUILLA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BELLA VISTA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
JULIUS CORSINI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
DELLA S LINDLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Coachella Valley Unified:

The Coachella Valley Unified School District will be distributing meals for students during our
district closure beginning on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Please review the schedule below to
identify your nearest meal distribution location.
Meal Serving Times*
Breakfast 8:00am – 10:00am
Lunch 12:00pm – 2:00pm
School Site Address
Cesar Chavez Elementary School
Peter Pendleton Elementary School
Valle Del Sol Elementary School
Valley View Elementary School
Westside Elementary School
Coachella Valley High School
Mountain Vista Elementary School
Mecca Elementary School
Desert Mirage High School
John Kelley Elemetary School
West Shores High School
Bobby Duke Middle School
The “grab-and-go” meals will be distributed at the community locations below. Staff will be at the
designated community locations for 20-minutes at a time.
North Shore
Community Locations Address Serving Times*
North Shore Community Park 99480 70th Avenue, Mecca, CA 8:00am/12:00pm