Head Start Heals: Feeding Love
Fadara Clark: Hello, my name is Fadara, and I am the Head Start director in Cuthbert, Georgia. Cuthbert, Georgia is a rural area. We have one traffic light. [Laughs] When COVID hit, we ended up having to close school. We were rattled by it because it meant that a lot of our children would lack proper food and nutrition daily. So, the nutrition manager, along with the superintendent and the board, they all came together and devised a plan for our buses to run and deliver food to our students' doorsteps. My wonderful staff volunteered to get on those buses, and I tagged along.
We were going through neighborhoods and this particular day, the students that we had just served ended up at our next stop. I said, "Have we given you your lunch yet?" She said, "No, ma'am," as she had all the little crumbs around her mouth and on her shirt. I said, "Are you sure?" And so, I gave her the lunches, and as I talked to her, I kind of bent down and I got close to her. And I said, "Hey, wipe those little crumbs off your mouth and your shirt." She said, "Oh!" I said, "It's OK, it's OK, it's OK, it's fine." I said, "I didn't see anything." [Laughs]
I got a chance to see so many of our students, and just put my eyes on them just to make sure that they were OK. Once this is all over, they will remember that we made that extra step. That would be a good enough feeling for me, just to know that children said, "Hey, my Head Start family missed me, and they came by my house to see me." [Laughs]
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CloseThe only Head Start program in the small town of Cuthbert, GA was forced to close during COVID-19. This meant that many children would miss out on daily meals. In response, staff developed a plan to bring food to enrolled families in the community.