Near normal operations have returned to Food and Nutrition Services at the Brownsville Independent School District, where hundreds of FNS workers are turning out thousands of breakfast and lunch meals for summer school students, summer recreation participants and anyone under 18.
BISD is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Seamless Summer Option program, which runs through Aug. 5 and provides nutritious free meals for children 0-18 at dozens of sites around the city.
Breakfast is served from 7:30 to 7:55 a.m. and lunch from 12:05 to 12:35 p.m. All families have to do is find a site and show up. Meals must be consumed onsite and children do not have to be BISD students to receive a free meal.
At Manzano Middle School, FNS manager Ricardo Contreras estimated they served 80 breakfasts Wednesday morning and would serve about as many lunches. Tamales were on the menu for breakfast and nachos for lunch along with fruits, vegetables, milk and juice to complete a healthy meal.
“It takes s lot of pride to serve the kids,” he said. “We like our jobs. We wake up every morning to come here and do our jobs.” Contreras and a crew of six were preparing and serving the meals, fewer than during the regular school year, when he is the FNS manager at Garcia Middle School and they serve 700-800 meals a day.
But the procedures are the same, involving careful food handling, normal sanitation and extra precautions to keep COVID-19 at bay.
Omar Figueroa, a 14-year FNS custodian who has worked at Manzano for the past five years, and before that at Ortiz Elementary, said he was glad to see all the kids showing up for summer programs at Manzano.
“We have a good team here,” he said.
Jesus Vasquez, a student from Stillman Middle School taking math and reading this summer at Manzano, said things were going great with his classes. He had good things to say about his teachers, both at Manzano and Stillman.
Summer recreation programs were also underway, including volleyball, basketball, soccer and work in the weight room.
Volleyball is popular with the girls, soccer for the boys and, of course, the weight room, coach Lori Mares said.
She said about 50 kids showed up on Monday. Word got out and on Tuesday there were about 70.
FNS meals are available at the following sites:
Elementary:
Ben Brite, Breeden, Garza, Hudson, Keller, Martin, Morningside, Pena, Pullam and Sharp
Middle Schools:
Besteiro, Faulk, Garcia, Lucio, Manzano, Oliveira, Perkins, Stell, Stillman and Vela
Early College High Schools:
Cummings CTE Certification Center, Hanna, Lopez, Pace, Porter, Rivera and Veterans Memorial
Non-School Sites:
Please visit bisd.us for dates and times.
BISD Police and Security Services, Bob Clark Social Services Center, Children’s Museum of Brownsville, Downtown Recreation Center, El Centro Cultural/Esperanza Park, First Baptist School, Garden Plaza WIC Clinic, Gladys Porter Zoo, Incarnate Word Academy, Lucio WIC Clinic, Margaret Clark Aquatic Center, Oliveira Gym Park, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Sinai’ Living Stone Church A.G., Tony Gonzalez Gym
Locations, dates, and times are subject to change. There will be no meal service on July 4.
For more information, contact the Food and Nutrition Serves Department at (956) 548-8450.
