PSS begins Grab&Go meal distribution to students

The Public School System Child Nutrition Program began its first meal distribution on Wednesday with over a 1,000 set of meals distributed.

At Garapan Elementary School, hundreds of children, accompanied by their parents, came to pick up meals via drive-thru and walk-in.

According to Jeremy Sager, general manager for Triple J restaurants, the first day of meal distributions, called Grab&Go, went with hardly a hitch. “Everything is going great and I think this is going to be a good thing for the public, especially for the children who are in need of meals,” he said.

In terms of challenges, Sager said everyone cooperated and it was smooth sailing from the start. “It’s been a very smooth process. Everyone seems to be cooperating and following directions,” he said.

Sager explained that Triple J was approached to volunteer to help distribute the meals. Altogether, Triple J provided 30 volunteers that were spread out among 10 different distribution locations.

According to Roy Adsit, who oversaw the distribution at Saipan Southern High School, the first distribution day was not as overwhelming as he had expected.

“First day we were thinking that there would be a lot more people. Apparently other schools need more people but here at Southern it’s been steady but not overwhelming,” he said.

Adsit said all the volunteers did a great job distributing the meals and there weren’t that many bumps along the way.

“I think everybody did a good job today. We kept our distance. People got healthy food, I think it went well,” he said.

Adsit said he is just glad PSS CNP decided to push through with the meal distribution because he was worried about a lot of children who wouldn’t be able to afford meals because of the current economic crisis.

“For a lot of these kids, their parents are unemployed or underemployed right now because…the economy has shut down, so instead of waiting for help [that] might not come to us, we have this here. We have the money, let’s get some food to the kids that need it. I’m glad we’re doing that,” he said.

The meal distribution sites are at Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, Tanapag Middle School, Garapan Elementary School, Oleai Elementary School, Dandan Middle School, Marianas High School, Francisco M. Sablan Middle School, Saipan Southern High School, ChaCha Ocean View Middle School, Chalan Kanoa Head Start, Tinian Elementary School, Sinapalo Elementary School, and Dr. Rita H. Inos Jr./Sr. High School.

Meal distribution will be from 9:30am to 10:30am, Mondays to Fridays.