Flier courtesy of the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods

School may be out for the holidays starting Monday, but the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods, Open Door Clinic and the Del Norte County Office of Education are ensuring kids don’t go hungry during winter break.

The FRC is slated to give out roughly 2,000 meals to kids ages 0-18 between Monday and Jan. 3, Executive Director Amira Long told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Friday. The organization is paying for the meals through grants and sponsorships from the Wild Rivers Community Foundation, Open Door Clinic and Lithia 4 Kids, Long told the Outpost.

The food is coming from Del Norte Unified School District’s Nutrition Services Department, Long told the Outpost. Meal sites include the FRC of the Redwoods on Pacific and the Del Norte Wellness Center at Washington Boulevard and Northcrest Drive. Both sites are in the Crescent City area.

“Deb (Kravitz) lets us order through her so the partnership can get a price break and our dollars can go further,” Long said.

Deborah Kravitz, the school district’s nutrition services director, told the Outpost that though the Winter Meal Break program is operated through the FRC in collaboration with Open Door, her department purchases the food and produce through the district’s distributors and contracts. The pricing is competitive and, ideally, it saves the FRC and Open Door money, Kravitz told the Outpost.

She said she’s able to order the food, have it delivered to the school district, store it and get the food to the two distribution sites at the FRC and Open Door Clinic’s Washington Boulevard facility.

During the summer, Kravitz and her staff operate DNUSD’s Seamless Summer Food Program through the California Department of Education. However winter break being only two weeks long makes it difficult for the school district to put together on its own, though DNUSD has partnered with the FRC and Open Door for several years, Kravitz told the Outpost.

“It serves a real need in the community during the two week shutdown when kids aren’t in school,” Kravitz told the Outpost, adding that about 68 percent of DNUSD students are eligible for free and reduced meals. “There was no doubt in my mind that those two weeks certainly are impactful on many of our students who rely on our school meals during the school year and the school week.”

Free breakfast will be available from 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. and free lunch will be served from 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Meals will be served at the FRC, 494 Pacific Avenue in Crescent City and at the Open Door Clinic, 550 East Washington Boulevard in Crescent City.

Though the sites will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Day, meals will still be available. People can pick meals up for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on Monday. Meals for Jan. 1, New Years Day, will be available on Dec. 31, according to the FRC. For more information, call (707) 464-0955.

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