CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Families were lining up at Mary C. Elementary on Charleston’s West Side to receive a week’s worth of boxed meals amid the ongoing gas outage and students being out of school for Thanksgiving break.
Kanawha County Schools Child Nutrition team partnered up with school volunteers Tuesday to distribute the 7-day meal boxes to families.
KCS Child Nutrition Director Diane Miller said while they typically provide extra meals to students during the holidays to ensure they have enough to eat, they decided to provide extra during the gas crisis.
“It was decided that the need was much greater than just during the school period, so we extended it through the entire week,” Miller said.
Miller said the boxes included an assortment of shelf-stable milk, cheese, yogurt, among other food items. In addition, she said a turkey meal with mashed potatoes and dressing was being included in the boxes this time, as well, so students were made sure they received extra for the holiday.
The nutrition team started distributing the meals at 11 a.m. Tuesday, and Miller said they had already given out nearly 90 boxes by 11:30. She said they had given out over 200 boxes Friday which contained meals for three days.
West Side resident Roger Neal was one of the many coming to the school Tuesday to pick up meals for his grandchildren among other kids he said who visit his home. He said the extra meals help them out a lot.
“We have electric for the stove, but this just helps with the expense,” he said.
Neal said he was grateful for the school system for providing the meals during the challenging time.
“It keeps us from having to try to do all of the things we normally do on Thanksgiving, and we appreciate the school and everybody’s help in doing it,” Neal said.
Miller said this meal distribution was a joint effort between the governor, the State Department of Education, the United Way of Central West Virginia as well as Kanawha County Schools.
“We’re just grateful that everyone feels the same that this emergency has really caused some hardships, and we just want to try in our own way to help establish that the schools are a part of the community and we’re here to assist,” Miller said.
Meal distributions have been being held at Mary C. Snow Elementary since around the time the gas outage began on Friday, November 10. The City of Charleston has been providing daily updates to the community on the outage since that time, as well.
Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said Tuesday morning’s update from the Mountaineer Gas Company was stating that gas service had been restored to approximately 905 customers, with 90% of the 46 miles of affected line being restored. She said they aren’t going to stop addressing the community on the outage and being transparent about the situation.
“We need to keep our eye on the ball, this is not the time to say stop doing what we’re doing, I think we need to continue efforts as it was day 1,” Goodwin said.
She said Mountaineer Gas crews will work throughout the week, including Thanksgiving Day to purge water out of the gas lines and restore service to more customers.
The update also stated that the United Way together with Bream Neighborhood Shop have distributed nearly 800 space heaters and over 2,000 blankets since Monday, Nov. 13. They are still available to meet those needs at (304)340-3500.
The American Red Cross Appalachian Region in collaboration with the Charleston Fire Department has been going around door-to-door installing new smoke detectors. They have currently installed 79 alarms, and made 38 homes safer during the process. Anyone still in need of a smoke alarm can call (304)340-3650.
West Virginia Health Right has distributed 1,560 meals, 704 heaters, 460 electric blankets and 90 regular blankets, among other supplies.
Finally, the Martin Luther King and North Charleston Community centers have been open for hot showers and comfort kits provided by the Red Cross from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day.
People can visit charlestonwv.gov/update for more information about gas outage assistance and to find additional resources.