IPS adds dinner to free meal distribution on Mondays, Wednesdays
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Indianapolis Public Schools has changed the way its meal program works during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure families stay fed.
All of this free food means a lot to Melvin Winston and his five children.
“This is dinner on the table right here, breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Winston said.
His fiancée was laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s a blessing, because without this, we probably wouldn’t have too much to eat anyway,” Winston explained.
That’s exactly why IPS added dinner to its food distribution plan, starting Monday. Anyone 18 or younger, regardless of whether they IPS, can get free, prepacked meals on Mondays and Wednesdays.
“It’s helping me a lot because I don’t have to worry about breakfast and lunch. I can mostly focus on dinner,” Roslynne Burton, a grandmother of two, said.
The meals are distributed in the parking lots of 14 IPS schools and also at two apartment complexes.
At the Charles Fairbanks School, the district hands out prepacked meals to an average of 300 children per day, IPS said.
On Mondays, students will get enough food to cover three meals a day for two days. On Wednesdays, they’ll get enough food to cover three meals a day for three more days. It’s all to make sure students have enough real, healthy meals for the weekdays, since all Indiana K-12 schools are closed as Indiana battles the pandemic.
“This is a blessing to me, and I’m sure a lot of other families.” Winston said.
Distribution information from IPS:
Meal Location Sites at School Parking Lots
From 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.:
- Carl Wilde School 79 — 5002 W.34th St. (parking lot off of Auburn Road)
- George Washington High School — 2215 W. Washington St.
- Eleanor Skillen School 34 — 1410 Wade St.
- Brookside School 54 — 3150 E. 10th St. (parking lot off of North Dearborn Street)
- Arlington Woods School 99 — 5801 30th St.
- James Whitcomb Riley School 43 — 150 W. 40th St.
- Charles Warren Fairbanks School 105 — 8620 Montery Road
From 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
- Northwest Middle School — 5525 W. 34th St.
- Matchbook Learning @ Wendell Phillips School 63 — 1163 Belmont Ave.
- Urban Act Academy @ Washington Irving 14 — 1250 E. Market St.
- Thomas Gregg Neighborhood School — 2302 E. Michigan St.
- George S. Buck School 94 — 2701 Devon Ave.
- Phalen Leadership Academy @ Francis Scott Key 103 — 3920 Baker Drive
- Louis B. Russell Jr. School 48 — 3445 Central Ave.
Meal location Sites at Apartment Complexes
The IPS Food Service team will no longer use the Bus Stop Café at these locations. Instead, prepackaged meals will be served from trucks.
- Blackburn Terrace — 3091 Baltimore Ave., from 11–11:30 a.m.
- Laurelwood Apartments — 3340 Teakwood Drive, from 12:30–1 p.m.