Volunteers dedicate snow day to serving students

"I woke up this morning and I saw an article...and it make me think about our kids here in the Northshore School District - we've gone several days with no school or shortened days."

Snow days mean no lunch for students who may rely on the two meals per day they can get at school.  An article on social media got district communications director Lisa Youngblood Hall thinking - and she jumped into action.

"We planned it about seven o'clock this morning," laughed Dr. Michelle Reid, the superintendent. "We decided to not just talk about it, but to get out here and do something about it."

When school officials reached out to ask for help, the community came through in a big way.  Within hours, dozens of hot lunches were ready to serve at Northshore Middle School, and volunteers were busy preparing hundreds more bagged lunches for families who couldn't make it to the school.

"We probably had about 30, 35 families reach out to us and say they need help, they need us to bring food to them," said Youngblood Hall.  "We've probably had just as many volunteers - families, staff members, community members - volunteer to say: 'what can we do to help? Can we drive, can we bring food? Can we make donations?'"

Even local businesses chipped in, donating water and other supplies to the effort.

Volunteers are planning to gather again Tuesday, and they hope to continue providing lunches until the winter weather lets up and school gets back to normal.

"We're going to try to take care of our community as much as we can, as long as this weather continues." said Youngblood Hall.

"The way we look at it, if there's a need in any house, there's a need for all of us." Dr. Reid added. "Where there's a will, there's a way."

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