PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Even though the School District of Philadelphia's grab-and-go meal program is closed during this holiday week, the city says pantries remain open to provide food for needy families.
The district said it's provided 6 million grab-and-go meals for students this year while they've been learning remotely during the pandemic. Many of the pickup locations at 63 district and 29 charter schools are not distributing meal boxes, though, during this holiday week.
District meal sites won't reopen until January 8, but according to deputy mayor Cynthia Figueroa, food is still available. "We want to make sure that families know that there's the general distribution at all the food pantries that operate through the city," she said.
Many pantries are supplied by the nonprofit Philabundance and the SHARE food program. Loree Jones, CEO of Philabundance, said families have options, while schools are on winter break.
"We do know that over the holidays, schools are closed but there are a number of pantries across the network that are still providing food," she said.
All district, charter, private or homeschooled students in Philadelphia are eligible for the grab-and-go meals.
"Through our backpack program we give people enough food for several days and so they definitely were encouraging people to stock up early," Jones said. "What a number of pantries do at this time of year is double up on distributions a little bit earlier to make sure people can get the food and have it stored for the next week or so."
Jones said information on which food sites are open is available at Philabundance.org, FindHelp.org or WhyHunger.org. They also have a list of food distribution sites open during the holiday week.
She also said families can call 311, or text their zip code to 1-800-548-6479 to find an open pantry near them.