Area schools taking part in school lunch repack pilot program

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Three area school districts are piloting a one-month program to distribute unserved leftover meals to students through each host school’s food pantry.

The program will start on Monday at Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead Area Public Schools.

West Fargo’s Liberty Middle School will serve as the host facility for the district. At the end of lunch service, the remaining items will be packaged in microwave-safe containers and be delivered to the host school. Each meal will be labeled with allergen alerts, as well as instructions for safe handling and reheating.

While the pilot will close the first week of April, the school’s food pantry will continue to disperse the frozen, repacked meals through the end of the year, or until they are all claimed. As two of the pilot’s community partners, the Great Plains Food Bank and United Way of Cass-Clay will collect data from all three districts during the four weeks. The data will be evaluated to determine the pilot’s reach and impact on the community.

The pilot is made possible in part by financial support from United Way of Cass-Clay and the support from Great Plains Food Bank, Power Plate Meals, Fargo Cass Public Health, Clay County Public Health, and the Cass-Clay Hunger Coalition.