Food is being delivered twice a week to more than 1,000 children.
All Photos By Mackenna Kelly
Current Contributor
By order of the governor, Friday, March 13, 2020, was the last day that K-12 students were permitted to attend Michigan schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are two public schools in Benzie County: roughly 1,500 students at Benzie County Central Schools and 500 at Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools. More than 50 percent are considered “economically disadvantaged,” meaning that, when school is in-session, they receive two free or reduced-price meals per day.
During the school closure, both schools are continuing to serve meals to students. Bus drivers are continuing to drive their normal routes twice a week.
Instead of picking up students, they are dropping off food.
A calendar hangs on the wall in the kitchen of Benzie Central High School on March 23, 2020. What was supposed to be the weeks leading up to Spring Break became closure for COVID-19. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
At Benzie Central High School, volunteers prepare to load buses with meals for students on March 23, 2020. “We found out very quickly that we were going to need more help,” says Lisa Purchase, food service director for Benzie County Central Schools. “We’ve had so many join in.” Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Rob Holmes and Julie Nerg—bus driver and para-pro for Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools, respectively—prepare to deliver meals to students on March 20, 2020. Holmes has been a bus driver for five years, and his typical route consists of about 20 stops; during the mandatory closure of all Michigan public schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, he and Nerg have been passing out food twice a week to about one-third of his regular stops. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Filled to the brim with food, paper grocery bags sit on bus seats, typically occupied by students. More than 50 percent of the 2,000 students that attend both the Benzie and Frankfort school districts are considered “economically disadvantaged,” meaning that, when school is in-session, they receive two free or reduced-price meals per day. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Julie Nerg, a para-pro for Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools, delivers food to a student at his home on March 20, 2020. During the mandatory closure of all Michigan public schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, staff are passing out food twice a week along the bus routes. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Julie Nerg, a Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools para-pro, delivers meals to a student’s home on March 20, 2020. There are about 20 staffers and volunteers involved with preparing and delivering meals twice a week to more than 100 FEAS students. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Jenna Noffsinger is the food service director for Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools, where she has worked for the past eight years. Noffsinger has seen all kinds of changes during her tenure—budget cuts; rising food costs; halving of the kitchen staff—but the ramifications of the COVID-19 school closure have presented new challenges, such as packaging food for several days. “I want to do salads and stuff,” Noffsiner says. “But that’s a lot of prep work and a lot of lettuce, and it’s not going to last long in the container.” Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Pre-made meals are prepared at Frankfort High School on March 20, 2020. “We did nachos, we did a ‘make-your-own-pizza’ kit with just flatbreads and sauce and cheese and a few pepperonis,” says Jenna Noffsinger, food service director at Frankfort Elberta Area Schools. Meals go home on the buses twice per week for about 100 students, which means prepping 600 to 800 meals at one time. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Sharon Ward (left) and Laura Franklin pack lunches at Frankfort High School on March 20, 2020. “On the days that we pack [2 days a week], we are packing 900 bags as of right now,” Ward says. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
In addition to five full-time and seven part-time kitchen staffers at Benzie, there are about 50 others helping with the meal-delivery program at Benzie—these “volunteers” consist mostly of teachers, coaches, custodians, administrators, bus drivers, para-pros, and other school staff. 
In addition to five full-time and seven part-time kitchen staffers at Benzie, there are about 50 others helping with the meal-delivery program at Benzie—these “volunteers” consist mostly of teachers, coaches, custodians, administrators, bus drivers, para-pros, and other school staff. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Lisa Purchase, director of food services at Benzie County Central Schools, gives direction to volunteers on March 23, 2020. The first few delivery days were a bit chaotic, but the team has figured out a system: 16 buses are now loaded with between 5,000 and 7,000 meals within 15 minutes. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Belva Whaley, who typically teaches English and Math at Benzie Central High School, smiles as she helps to load a cooler onto a bus on March 23, 2020. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly 
Lockers are clean and empty at Benzie Central high school on March 23, 2020, just 10 days after all Michigan schools were ordered to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo Credit: Mackenna Kelly
Want to sign up for meals to be delivered from a school to your home? Call 231-882-9653 for Benzie County Central Schools; call 231-352-7601 for Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools.
This is the first in a series of stories that The Betsie Current intends to tell about Benzie County during the COVID-19 pandemic: “good news” stories about resiliency, adaptation, ingenuity, compassion, and shared humanity. Read the accompanying article here. Watch the accompanying video here.
Full Disclosure: Aubrey Ann Parker, editor and co-owner of The Betsie Current, is an FEAS school board member and a BCCS soccer coach.
