All school districts now offer meals during closure

Published 7:00 am Tuesday, March 24, 2020

During the ongoing school closures, free meals are being made available for children 18 and under from local school districts.

The Pearl River County School District began offering free grab and go meals on Monday and will be offering them until school closures are scheduled to end on April 17. The Picayune School District was the first in the county implement such a program and will continue to offer the meals until April 17. The Poplarville School District will begin offering free meals Tuesday, March 24.

People 18 and younger eat free and do not have to be students in the school district to receive a free meal. Due to federal regulations, kids do have to be present to claim their meal. Meals include a lunch and a breakfast for the following day and will be available Monday through Friday.

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Locations and times

The site locations for the Pearl River County School District are Pearl River Central Middle School, 7391 Highway 11, Carriere, in the daily drop off area, where meals are available from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; West Union Baptist Church, 560 West Union Road, Carriere, in the parking area from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; and Lee’s Chapel No. 1 Baptist Church, 11 Herb Lee Fred Spiers Road, Carriere, in the parking area from 12 to 12:30 p.m. Children will not need to leave the vehicle to get their meals. Meals are available Monday through Friday.

The Picayune School District Meal Program has four sites where people can pick up free grab and go meals for children 18 and younger: Roseland Park Elementary, Picayune Junior High, South Side Elementary and Nicholson Elementary. The meals are available Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at all four sites until April 17.

Meals can be picked up at the front entrances for Nicholson Elementary and South Side Elementary and at the back cafeteria entrances for Roseland Park Elementary and Picayune Junior High. Parents can pull up to the entrance and be handed a meal through their vehicle window from a cafeteria worker.

The Poplarville School District will begin providing free grab and go breakfast and lunch to children 18 and younger beginning Tuesday, March 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The pickup location for Poplarville School District will be the Middle School of Poplarville, at 6 Spirit Street, Poplarville. Meals are available Monday through Friday.