Almost 30,000 meals served to Cornell during pandemic

The Cornell School District joined the Baylor University Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty (BCHP), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and key public and private organizations, in serving more than 38.7 million meals between March and August, to more than 270,000 children impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The venture was part of the Emergency Meals-to-You (eMTY) program.

In Wisconsin, 28,900 of the 48,660 meals delivered, went to families in the Cornell School District. More than 205 children were served in the district, over the course of four months.

The eMTY initiative was an expansion of a regional pilot program, that had previously served Texas households in 2019. As part of the federal government’s pandemic response, the USDA asked the BCHP to exponentially scale its meal delivery work to meet the needs of children in rural areas nationwide.

“In this unprecedented time of so much need, children in rural areas can be among the most vulnerable,” said Jeremy Everett, BCHP executive director. “Without access to school lunch programs, public transportation and other resources, households in some of the country’s hardest hit communities, were left scrambling for ways to replace much needed meal resources.”

While this program provided an immediate lift for summer meal delivery, Everett says the work of addressing hunger and poverty in the pandemic crisis is far from over.

“Through our statewide and national focus, BCHP is exploring new pathways, convening strategic partners and finding creative ways to tackle the tough and pervasive topic of hunger,” said Everett. “We are deeply appreciative of the partnerships that brought together the unprecedented work of this summer, and are looking ahead at more good work that needs to be done with the support of organizations and individuals united to find ways to end the epidemic of hunger.”