Noon Rotary, Zane Grey Partner to Provide Meals for Kids

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — One local school has made sure that their students will not go hungry over the extended spring break.

The Zanesville Noon Rotary Club partnered with Zane Grey Elementary to make sure that students who might not get regular meals at home, would have plenty of food to last until they return to school.

“Our Noon Rotary Club got together with us to offer a meal, basically with our kids being home for five days over the spring break. During the course of the year we basically have 120 kids that we provide meals for throughout the year so this is just an extra support for them since they’re going to be home for an extended break,” said Zane Gray Principal Mark Stallard.

At the beginning of each year, the school sends out a request to families inquiring about the need for meal assistance. Stallard says that they set up meal programs that go on throughout the course of the year with the help of a few local organizations to support the high number of students that grow up in poverty. North Terrace Christian Church, and the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department are among the organizations that support their year-long programs.

“We basically have a little bit over 900 students here, Pre-K to 6. Our socioeconomic status, we basically have over 90% of our students are in poverty, and to provide them with needed food to get them through the weekend or whatever it might be is definitely important because nutritious bodies have more nutritious minds,” added Stallard.

The grocery bags consisted of food items such as peanut butter and jelly, soup, canned fruits and vegetables, mini boxes of cereal, macaroni and cheese, and more.

The Noon Rotary Club packed all of the grocery bags of food over the weekend at the school so that they could be delivered to the kids throughout this week.