By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area School District recently received a PLTW Community Celebration Award for efforts it took on during the COVID-19 pandemic such as meal service and Free Little Pantries.
According to a blog post from PLTW, which stands for Project Lead The Way, the EASD worked throughout the pandemic to help ensure families had enough food throughout the pandemic by providing free breakfast and lunch to children and adults throughout the greater community. While schools were closed to in-person learning, bus drivers continued working by delivering meals to six locations where families could pick up the food.
According to the post, the EASD served about 2,900 meals each week between March and August, resuming the program again when school started.
“This food service provided a connection with our families during this difficult time,” Elkhorn Area School District Superintendent Jason Tadlock said.
“Thanks to the generous donations of many individuals to the Elkhorn Area School District Education Foundation, we were able to provide adults in need throughout the community thousands of meals,” he added.
Another key part of the program was the district’s partnership with local custom homebuilder Wausau Homes. Through that partnership, sixth graders in the PLTW Green Architecture class at Elkhorn Area Middle School constructed Free Little Pantries, which were then placed around Elkhorn, providing community members another place to donate food items, masks, hygiene items and more to those in need.
A total of six pantries were constructed with materials donated by local businesses, with three placed within Elkhorn and the other three being placed in surrounding communities. Community groups are also currently working together to ensure that the boxes remain stocked.
“As you can see, there is a strong partnership between Elkhorn Area School District and the Elkhorn community that it serves,” Elkhorn Area School District PLTW K-8 Coordinator Eryca Card said.
“We have a cultural motto currently in place that speaks to this partnership – #ElkhornStrong,” she said.
According to the post, the district is working on constructing additional Free Little Pantries and has already determined several locations for those pantries.
In addition to providing needed food and items to local families in need, the district also made efforts to stay in contact with families throughout the pandemic via phone calls from Community Resilience Outreach Coordinator Senta Holmes.
“That phone call is meant to check in on families and provide a variety of levels of support to the family that may be currently in quarantine due to COVID,” Holmes said.
For more information about Project Lead The Way, visit pltw.org.
