A school’s primary job is to attend to the academic needs of the students; and St. Bernard Mission School took care of that amid the COVID-19 pandemic by hand-delivering homework assignments to students’ homes after closing their doors in mid-March.
Aside from academics, the students in Fort Yates have many more needs to be met. One of those is a reliable source for a nutritious meal. The staff at St. Bernard’s have stepped up to serve free lunch to the community’s children seven day a week through the summer.
Each day, nearly 50 kids show up. The public school in town is offering a cold lunch Monday-Friday and some kids have scoped out the best choice or partake in both. Often, they choose St. Bernard’s because it’s the only place serving a hot meal several times a week. Kids can eat at the school; some parents drive up for to-go meals or someone will deliver to those who don’t have transportation.
Kitchen staff Rita and Lynn Laundreaux spend about four hours in the kitchen each day planning and preparing meals, seven days a week. Rita joined the staff as the school cook last fall and started making sack lunches for the kids to be delivered with their homework assignments this spring.
Now, she and her husband have shifted back to hot meals for the kids who Rita happily reports aren’t picky eaters. “They love that we’re doing this,” Rita said. “We have our regulars who come pretty much every day.”
Rita and Lynn get a first-hand look each day at how much the free meal service is appreciated by the children in Fort Yates. The menu varies, but the need remains constant, Rita said. “I like cooking and the kids sure love the meals.”