The effort is similar to the Ellsworth County summer lunch program — only it’s mobile.

Two days a week, those in charge of the Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo School District’s free Grab N Go breakfast and lunch deliver meals to Geneseo, Kanopolis and Ellsworth.

Ages 1 to 18 are eligible, but they must be present at the Monday and Thursday pickups. Participants don’t have to be students in the USD 327 district.

“We don’t want anyone to be left out,” said Ron Davis, district point man for the program.

This will be the third week for the effort, which started after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly issued an executive order over spring break that K-12 schools in the state would be closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Her action was in response to the coronavirus, which can lead to the potentially deadly Covid-19.

Cases have been reported in Saline and Barton counties, but as of early this week, no one had tested positive for the virus in Ellsworth County.

Meanwhile, the entire state is under a stay-at-home order, also issued by the governor, the exception being the free meal program and other essential services.

The governor’s no-school order, followed by recommendations from a state panel on ways to educate students away from their traditional classrooms, kickstarted districts across the state as administrators and teachers worked to redesign a century-old educational delivery system.

Feeding kids was at the top of the priority list.

Central Plains has a program similar to the one in the Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo School District.

Davis said USD 327 would not normally qualify for the incomebased federal meal program; however, the district was approached by federal representatives about applying for a waiver.

The idea appealed to administrators and staff because it’s difficult for children to learn when they’re hungry and it also was a way to ease the burden on parents, some of them overwhelmed by job losses, their school-age children being at home and other responsibilities.

“In education we know you have to meet the basic needs before anything else takes place,” Davis said.

Within a week, the program was up and running from the kitchen of Ellsworth Junior-Senior High School.

Davis, who left for spring break as the district’s athletic director, has returned to a variety of other duties, including coordinator of the breakfast and lunch program.

Others involved in the effort are Dayna Love, food director; Jill Brantley, kitchen manager; and Angie Hicks, Corky Hahn and Ruth Billinger, who all work for OPAA, the company that normally handles food preparation for the student-staff cafeteria.

This is the team that prepares the meals and then packages them for delivery at the three meal sites. This past week, workers put together 1,800 meals.

“It’s just like we would do at home. It’s just mass production here,” Davis said.

Breakfast can include cereal bowls, nut and grain bars, juice or fruit and milk. Lunch items include submarine sandwiches, chicken wraps, chips, fruit or vegetable.

Participants receive 10 meals a week — six on Mondays and four on Thursdays. Davis said cars were lined up from Kwik Shop to the high school the first day meals were distributed in Ellsworth as participants registered and picked up their food.

Participation has continued to grow, from 235 kids the first Monday to 278 three days later to 310 this past week. The district has 630 students.

An added benefit, “You’re seeing people helping each other out,” Davis said.

Early on, children would arrive one or two to a car. Now, parents and others with children are sharing the responsibility.

“For us, this was unchartered territory,” Davis said. “It has gone well.”

Pickup sites

On the Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo School District website, sandwiched between a sea of cancellations, are times and pickup places for the free Grab N Go breakfast and lunch program.

. Drive-thru distribution planned at three sites:

• Geneseo bus stop — 11 to 11:30 a.m.

• KMS — Noon to 12:30 p.m.

• EHS — 12:45 to 1:15 p.m.

Days served: Mondays and Thursdays.

The other exception is Ellsworth High School graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020. The district’s Ron Davis said the annual ceremony has been postponed to June or July in the hope it will be able to take place once the Covid-19 threat subsides.