Students pick up meals, school supplies from Wake, Cumberland schools

Wake County's public schools opened for a few hours Tuesday afternoon to give students and staff a chance to pick up their belongings and to provide meals to students while schools are closed during the coronavirus outbreak.

Posted 12:31 p.m. Mar 17, 2020 — Updated 12:06 p.m. Mar 18, 2020

RALEIGH, N.C. — Wake County's public schools were open for a few hours Tuesday afternoon to give students and staff a chance to pick up their belongings and to provide meals to students while schools are closed during the coronavirus outbreak.

Principals were on campus from noon until 5 p.m. so staff and students' families can pick up personal items they may need during the extended break. Schools statewide are closed for at least the next two weeks.

Many parents have been posting on the Wake County Public School System Facebook page asking whether students will shift to online learning. The district says information about coursework will come later this week.

Families may pick up food at the locations and times indicated below, according to the county. Food will be distributed by volunteers at curbside to minimize safety concerns, and the food will be placed in safe and sanitized food containers. An ID is not required to pick up the food.

Durham resumes feeding program for students out of school

The following sites will be offering lunch and breakfast for pickup for students ages 18 and under from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m, Monday through Friday:

Poe Magnet Elementary School, 400 Peyton St., Raleigh
Rogers Lane Elementary School, 201 N. Rogers Lane, Raleigh
Creech Road Elementary School, 450 Creech Road, Garner
Wendell Middle School, 3409 N.C. Highway. 97, Wendell
Zebulon Magnet Elementary School, 700 Proctor St., Zebulon
Millbrook Magnet Elementary School, 1520 E. Millbrook Drive, Raleigh
Briarcliff Elementary School, 1220 Pond St., Cary
Pine Acres Community Center, 402 McLean St., Fuquay-Varina
PAVE SE Raleigh Charter School, 3420 Idlewood Village Drive, Raleigh
Wake County Human Services Northern Regional Center, 350 Holding Ave., Wake Forest
Washington Terrace Apartments, 1951 Booker Drive, Raleigh
Raleigh Millbank Apartments, 1500 N. Raleigh Blvd., Raleigh
The Oaks Apartments, 3911 Water Oak Drive, Raleigh
New Hope Village Apartments, 4321 Grandiflora Lane, Raleigh
Casa De Luna Apartments, 3918 Bonneville Court, Raleigh
Juniper Level Baptist Church, 9104 Sauls Road, Raleigh

Several churches and nonprofits also offer food services.

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina are both collecting food and financial donations to help provide meals to children during this time.

Cumberland schools feeding students' bodies, minds

Cumberland County Schools has 18 sites where students can pick up both meals and educational materials while schools are out:

College Lakes Elementary, 4963 Rosehill Road, Fayetteville
W.T. Brown Elementary, 2522 Andrews Church Road, Spring Lake
Westarea Elementary, 941 Country Club Drive, Fayetteville
E.E. Smith High, 1800 Seabrook Road, Fayetteville
Cape Fear High, 4762 Clinton Road, Fayetteville
Walker-Spivey Elementary, 500 Fisher St., Fayetteville
Cumberland Road Elementary, 2700 Cumberland Road, Fayetteville
Morganton Road Elementary, 102 Bonanza Drive, Fayetteville
Lake Rim Elementary,1455 Hoke Loop Road. Fayetteville
Lewis Chapel Middle, 2150 Skibo Road, Fayetteville
Douglas Byrd Middle, 1616 Ireland Drive, Fayetteville
Montclair Elementary, 555 Glensford Drive, Fayetteville
Sherwood Park Elementary, 2115 Hope Mills Road, Fayetteville
C. Wayne Collier Elementary, 3522 Sturbridge Drive, Hope Mills
Elizabeth Cashwell Elementary, 2970 Legion Road, Fayetteville
Alderman Road Elementary, 2860 Alderman Road, Fayetteville
John D Fuller Sr. Recreational/Athletic Complex, 6627 Old Bunce Road, Fayetteville
Spring Lake Recreation Department, 245 Ruth St, Spring Lake

The school system has prepared lesson plans to reinforce learning, and the lessons can also be downloaded on a computer at home.

Cafeteria workers at Walker-Spivey Elementary School were expected to about feed 150 students, but they wound up handing out more than 300 meals Tuesday.

"We've prepared items, repackaged them, [and] we're going to assemble them into trays," child nutrition supervisor Linda Johnson said. "The students are going to be able to come up and get their lunch and [the next day's] breakfast."

Parents or caregivers simply drive up to any of the sites, collect the meals and materials and drive off.

"I'm glad because I was wondering how my grocery bill was going to make it, you know, because these kids are used to breakfast in the morning. They want waffles and eggs and all that good stuff," said Dorthea Locke, who is looking after her grandchildren while they're out of school.

Kamisha Donaldson went to Walker-Spivey Elementary to pick up educational learning packs for two of her children.

"We have to take more time out because, normally, when they get out of school, you spend a couple of hours helping with homework. Now, it's like you actually have to do all the work," Donaldson said.

The unexpected vacation from school was emotional for some students.

"They said only Monday was a teacher workday, so I was OK with that until I heard about the news and we couldn't go to school for two weeks," student Mandale Williams said. "I was just, 'Wow.' I was kind of happy and kind of sad because I like my science teacher so much."

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