Volunteers help package and distribute free meals to students

Free breakfasts and lunches - provided by the Chester schools to children up to age 18 since the coronavirus pandemic closed all Illinois schools on March 17 - will be offered on Monday only next week, as next week is District 139's scheduled spring break.

Free meals are being distributed at Chester Grade School from 10 a.m. to noon, and also delivered by bus to pickup locations in Rockwood and Ellis Grove, and to St. John Lutheran and St. Mary's Catholic schools in Chester.

About 1,100 meals were provided Monday through Thursday during the first two weeks of the shutdown. This week they were offered on Monday and tomorrow (Thursday).

Fridays are traditionally early dismissal days at the schools, where lunch is not served.

Grade School Principal Bill Grafton said teachers and staffers have volunteered to help the kitchen staff bag the breakfasts and lunches for students.

"All of our teachers and staff have been working hard during this crises to help provide our students with both educational activities and nutrition," he said. "I am extremely proud of our staff."

At first, both the grade school and high school were offering meals, but the service has since been consolidated at the grade school.

Breakfast items include fresh fruits, cinnamon rolls, multigrain bars, cereal, milk and orange juice. Lunches include ham and cheese/turkey and cheese sandwiches, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, applesauce, stringed cheese, granola bars and milk.

Buses are at Ellis Grove City Hall and at the Rockwood Post Office, from 10:30 a.m. to noon on days when meals are served. The buses then go to St. Mary's Catholic School and St. John from 12:15 -12:45 p.m.

"The program has been well-received and the students are getting fed," said CGS cook Donna Steuve said.

CGS paraprofessional Michelle Kelkhoff said a lot of Chester students rely on the meals they eat at school.

"When they are not here, they sometimes do not get meals as regularly," she said. "Most of them really appreciate the fact that we have prepared and even delivered the meals to their neighborhoods each day."