Free lunch for RPS families today and Friday, volunteers needed

From RPS:

JANUARY 8 (Richmond, Va.) — Richmond Public Schools will be providing lunch on Thursday, January 9, and Friday, January 10, to any RPS family at six accessible locations throughout the city.

Due to Richmond’s extended water outages, RPS schools will be closed through the end of the week, superintendent Jason Kamras announced on Wednesday. However, RPS does so much more than teaching reading and math; many Richmond families depend on the schools for meals, healthcare, and many other wraparound supports. This initiative is just one effort to meet the needs of its community.

“The RPS family, and the broader Richmond community, consistently come together and put our kids first in tough times, and this is no exception,” says Superintendent Kamras. “I’m so grateful for the generous support of the Richmond EdFund, which made this event possible. Whether our doors are open or closed, at RPS, we love you here.”

Richmond Ed Fund executive director Taikein Cooper adds, “The Richmond Ed Fund’s mission is to ensure that RPS thrives. While this week’s water outage was unfortunate and unexpected, the greater Richmond community’s willingness to step up for our students is completely unsurprising. This embodies #RPSStrong.”

Chief Student Wellness Officer Renesha Parks, who oversees RPS’ nutrition, mental-health, and physical well-being efforts, is grateful for the partnership of both RPS staff and the greater Richmond community in making these efforts possible. “It takes a village to raise our children. Right now, every meal makes a difference. None of this would happen without our staff, our volunteers, and our community partners, who make big and small things happen each and every day.”

Staff and community are asked to sign up to volunteer at SignUp genius, here.

RPS families simply need to come down to one of the sites to receive food. Meals will be provided each day from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Thursday will be pizza, and Friday will be a combination of food trucks. Distribution sites include:

Brown Middle School (6300 Jahnke Rd, Richmond, Va., 23225)

Cardinal Elementary School (1745 Catalina Dr, Richmond, Va., 23223)

Carver Elementary School (1110 W. Leigh St, Richmond, Va, 23220)

Henderson Middle School (4225 Old Brook Rd, Richmond, Va., 23227)

Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School (1000 Mosby St, Richmond, Va., 23223)

Richmond High School for the Arts (4214 Crutchfield St, Richmond, Va., 23225)

Superintendent Kamras will be available to speak to the media at Carver Elementary at 11:30. We look forward to seeing so many RPS families tomorrow and Friday.