Community Corner
Summit Tamalpais Providing Meals to Students Throughout Community
Ahead of winter break, Summit Tamalpais Middle and High School to provide meals to students throughout the community
In the peak of the pandemic and amidst heightened food insecurity, families across the country are preparing for their students to begin winter break. Richmond’s Summit Tamalpais Middle and High School will provide continued support to students by distributing a week's worth of meals on the last day of the semester, December 18.
Summit Tamalpais has provided free meals to any student who needs them since March, over 15,000 meals in total. Responsive to the needs of families, meal kits have evolved from supplying five days to seven days worth of food every week. Kits include breakfast and lunch entrees, fresh fruits and vegetables, and milk. Each Monday, all students 18 and under — including those not enrolled at Summit Tamalpais — are able to pick up the meal kits prepared by The LunchMaster.
“We understand that a student will have a harder time concentrating in class if their basic needs are not being met,” says Joi Jackson, Executive Director of Summit Tamalpais Middle School. “That’s why our mission is to support the whole student. We have provided meal kits, one-to-one technology, and regular check-ins to ensure students are set up to attend, engage, learn, and grow in Virtual School. Our community takes pride in the care we have for one another.”
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Students and families picking up meals are greeted by the familiar faces of the food service staff they know from the previous school year, as Summit schools have continued to employ all staff throughout the pandemic.
The impact on the Summit community is tangible. “Not having to go buy food, particularly fresh fruit, at the store during this pandemic while one of our parents is not working has greatly helped our family," reflected an 11th grader at Summit. Summit’s network of schools in California and Washington has distributed over 137,000 meals since March.
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Summit Tamalpais’s free winter break meal distribution will take place at 3020 Hilltop Mall Road, Richmond, CA 94806 from 10 AM - 1 PM and will operate in accordance with COVID-19 safety precautions. If you or your family need additional meal support during school closures, visit the USDA Find Meals for Kids tool.
To learn more about Summit Tamalpais, visit their website.