KENT, Wash. — Campuses may be closed, but schools are still offering free meals. In Kent, it has become a massive task. Parents say the school district has struggled to keep up with demand.
Parents have provided the pictures and video showing long lines of cars crowding in for free meals distributed weekly at several sites throughout the Kent School District.
Stephanie Lawson, a single mom of two, attempted to get free meals on April 13.
"I get in line and there's no food. This was at, it started at 10 a.m., and it was at 10:21," Lawson said.
This week, the problems continued.
"I attempted yesterday, and was turned away," said Kari Greget, a mother of three. "Those boxes could have filled a void."
Each meal box contains five breakfasts and five lunches.
Megan Carter, PTSA president at Emerald Park Elementary, is very worried that students are going hungry.
"I know that we have families, just in our school, that likely are (going hungry), that I'm not able to reach," Carter said.
Carter has met with the school district about the growing demand.
"They can't access all the buildings that they typically would access, and so they have to use their central kitchen, which is not typically used to store huge boxes of foods," said Carter. "I think that's a real challenge, and trying to figure out other ways to refrigerate all of that."
Carter says she knows the district is working to expand as fast as possible. She also says she sees nutrition services employees working hard and doing a great job.
Melissa Laramie, a spokesperson for Kent School District said Superintendent Dr. Calvin Watts was not available for an interview today.
Laramie did provide a statement, that in part said, "We did pass out all of the meals prepared on our distribution day, Monday, April 20, a total of 51,110 meals, this was 12,368 meals more than the prior week, an average of average 10,222 meals/day."
According to KSD, since the statewide school closure began on March 16, the district has served a total of 168,082 meals.
On the district's website, it advertises the free meals and says no student will be turned away.
"No child turned away doesn't really mean no child turned away," Lawson said.
Now parents are reaching out to school leaders.
"When I emailed and said, 'you know I wasn't able to receive the boxes today for my children,' they're saying, try again next Monday or go to Covington, Auburn, Maple Valley, Renton," Greget said.
It's an answer that left Greget more anxious.
"The fact of the matter is there's so many kids out there right now, whose parents don't know what to do," Lawson said.
The Kent School District acknowledges the need for support continues to grow, and next week, they do plan to prepare more meals in an effort to meet that need.