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Richmond Public Schools is offering free food to families of enrolled students while schools are closed due to citywide water outages. Superintendent Jason Kamras announced in a video message sent to parents throughout the district that RPS would be closed for the remainder of the week.
The district has partnered with Feed More, a nonprofit focused on fighting hunger across Central Virginia, to provide food for those who rely on free school breakfast and lunch programs.
Angela Jones, RPS’ director of culture, climate and student services, said a plan to distribute food came together earlier this week, and staff began making food available today.
“We knew that our families who count on schools to be open for food, breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner were going to be in need,” Jones said at Cardinal Elementary, one of the distribution sites. The other site is at Henry Marsh Elementary in the East End.
Feed More provided hundreds of boxes and bags filled with kid-friendly, healthy meals.
RPS offers free meals to all of its students. The district’s chief wellness officer, Renesha Parks, said roughly 65% of the district’s students rely on the school's breakfast and lunch programs.
Jones said that RPS staff and volunteers have been driving food to families who are unable to visit the distribution sites.
“We’re really concentrating on giving shelf-stable food that is not necessarily dependent on water to feed,” Jones said. “Whether it’s a beef stew or boxes of crackers, fruit and things of that nature.”
School administrators have been reaching out to families that may have a history of food insecurity to inform them about available resources.
Jones said the district would continue working on plans to provide additional food and water for RPS families.
David Waidelich, Feed More’s chief programs and collaboration officer, said the organization would continue its efforts to offer support.
“We are doing our best to ensure community needs are met while also balancing available inventory on hand,” Waidelich said in an email.
Richmond’s public schools have been closed since Monday due to winter storm–related issues that caused power outages and damaged equipment at the city’s water treatment plant.
In a special edition of the division’s RPS Direct newsletter, Kamras said at least 10 district buildings were inoperable because they rely on boiler heat — which means they cannot operate during the citywide water outage.
