KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Families with children in Kansas City, Missouri, Public Schools are getting some help when it comes to meals.
“They are always like I’m hungry, I’m hungry nonstop," said Magen Rector, who has three kids in KCPS. “The something simple meals that would feed one of us would feed three of them and then some for who else was home."
With the start of school happening remotely rather than in person, Rector's family and many others need help feeding their children.
“Food insecurity is real and is a silent trauma that many of our families and students face every day," Jordan Gordon, director of food and nutrition for KCPS, said.
That help and hope started on Tuesday and came in the form of a yellow school bus. While school is remote, around 40 buses around the district will deliver breakfast and lunch sacks to 190 locations to make sure no child goes hungry.
The district started with drive-up meals in the spring, but the turnout grew to be higher than expected.
"It was not partial to anyone of any economic status. Kids were at home when they weren't normally home, creating this need for additional food resources for all families," Gordon said. “In total from March through June 30th, we served 392,192 meals."
The new support is just down the street from Rector's home. It's help she calls a true lifesaver.
“It’s a blessing because mine eat constantly and I can’t imagine what it is to have more than three and not have the steady income coming in to afford the food to feed them all," Rector said.
KCPS has all of the information and locations of the drop-offs on its website.