Since schools closed last month due to the coronavirus pandemic, children have been missing out on their daily routines, their schedules have changed and this has left many of them upset and worried about the new reality they are facing.
Children have been deprived of their friends, the communication with their favorite teachers in person, the break during which they laughed, played pranks on each other and did lots of fun stuff, and even school meals. In fact, some children relied on those meals and are having a hard time now that they have to stay at home.
Thankfully, in some states, the authorities considered this consequence of the lockdown as well- apart from the effects on public health and national economy which has been discussed a lot lately.
In order to help the children relying on school meals, some states, including Michigan and Georgia, have put in action a plan to help those children, but also every child that used to have lunch at school for various reasons.
The obvious reason is of course that there are hungry children in many districts and this school-provided meal could be the only meal they have during the day, so it is really crucial for the state to keep providing it. But, apart from that, there is also a psychological factor that comes into play.
Children, as mentioned above, have seen their lives change overnight, and have been forced to accept a new reality that they couldn’t ever think of- and they’re doing great so far.
However, as strong as they may be, they still need something to remind them that they have not been forgotten; that their school still remembers and cares about them. And one way to show this is by sending them meals every day.
Of course, all this wouldn’t have been possible if school bus drivers hadn’t been willing to keep working after schools closed. Only this time, instead of delivering students, they are delivering meals. In fact, Gwinnett County is one of the public school systems that began delivering sack lunches March 16.
A couple of days ago, a man named Chip Moore was driving behind a school bus, when it suddenly slowed down and eventually stopped. The man patiently waited until the bus would depart again and, as he was waiting, he saw the most touching scene ever.
He saw two children approaching the bus and waving at the driver. The bus door then opened and the children were handed plastic bags. The little girl- she could have been as young as 6 years old- couldn’t contain her enthusiasm for the contents of the bag. The kids then waved goodbye at the driver and the bus left.
“I saw two kids, one little girl no more than 6 years old in particular, running and dancing as the bus pulled up to stop. Her grin was huge and she was hollering and waving at the driver,” Moore wrote in a Facebook post. “The little girl in the red shirt gripped the bag, pulled it to her chest and gave the contents a huge hug, smile still ear to ear.”
Driving closer to the spot where the bus had stopped before, Moore burst into tears when he saw the kids eating the food that was in the plastic bags on the front porch.
“I saw that these two kids were pulling food out of the bags and eating on the front porch. Food that may have been their one meal for the day, delivered by a bus driver,” he wrote.
The scene that touched Moore’s heart is a reminder that people still care, even in hard times like those we are going through. A reminder that nobody should be left behind and nobody should be excluded because we all need each other.
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