THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 3 Supt. Oteri: Malden Public Schools will continue to battle food insecurity using new Food Truck During the summer months, free meals will be delivered to students in their own neighborhoods By Steve Freker A new addition to the Malden Public Schools (MPS) is expected to be ready for use by mid-June to help address food insecurity in the community. Through its Food Services Department, Superintendent John Oteri said, the district hopes to have the capacity, using a newly purchased food truck, to deliver meals directly to students in neighborhoods this summer. “We plan to deliver meals to high areas of concentration Free breakfast and lunch available only at Malden High School as of Monday, May 17 As of Monday, May 17, all the K-12 grades in the Malden Public Schools will be off ering full-time, in-person learning, five days a week. Students may still opt to remain in remote learning for the remainder of the school year, which has about four weeks remaining – only one more week for seniors. Lunch will be served inside all seven of the MPS buildings beginning on Monday, but free breakfast and lunch meals will be available for those students remaining in remote learning. There is a change, however. Free meals will be available at just one site as of Monday: at Malden High School’s Ferry Street Entrance, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A free breakfast and lunch meal will be available for each student in a household per day. On Fridays, additional meals will be provided for the weekend days of Saturdays and Sundays. The free “grab-and-go” meal program off ered by the MPS for more than a year now – since March 13, 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and all school buildings were closed – has been a major success. Hundreds of Malden families have been served on a daily basis by simply visiting the schools in their neighborhood. At one point all Malden Public Schools buildings were free meal sites, but since the students started returning to in-person learning in larger and larger numbers, the sites have reduced. The Malden High School site will be the only one left serving the free meals moving forward. chase of a food truck to travel throughout the city and bring food to neighborhoods. The rationale behind the proposal is that eliminating the barrier of traveling to pick up food each day would increase the number of students able to access the free and healthy meals they need. During this pandemic, A Malden Public Schools initiative will provide free meals to students where they live this summer, via a mobile food distribution truck similar to the one shown above. (Courtesy Photos) where students live, starting with the Newland Street area and including Linden Housing and the Bowdoin/Bryant Street neighborhood,” Supt. Oteri said in explaining plans to the Malden School Committee at its last meeting. “The district is optimistic that this truck will be able to get more food out to families and continue to work to eliminate food insecurity in Malden.” Earlier this school year, MPS announced that the district has been awarded a Food Security Infrastructure grant in the amount of $110,309 for the purchase of the food truck. This will help provide Malden students with access to free and nutritious meals on a regular basis. Recognizing the struggles families are facing during the pandemic, MPS wanted to ensure that access to food is not a burden to families and set out to fi nd an innovative way to address food insecurity. Prior to applying for the grant, food insecurity has been a major issue in many cities across the state and nation, and MPS wanted to make sure that Malden students would have access to free meals both during the school year and in the summer. SCHOOLS | SEE PAGE 10 AUTOTECH 1989 SINCE Is your vehicle ready for the Summer Season?!! Recharge your vehicle's AC for the warm weather! Includes up to 1 LB. of Refrigerant* (*Most Vehicles/Some Restrictions May Apply) Free “grab-and-go” meals will be available only at Malden High School as of Monday, May 17. Free breakfast and lunch meals may be picked up Monday through Friday, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. school department offi cials examined the data related to the number of families accessing free meals each day. Recognizing that traveling to schools while also balancing the demands of work posed a challenge for many families, the school department applied for the grant and proposed the purAC SPECIAL Only $69.95 DRIVE IT - PUSH IT - TOW IT! 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