ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Hundreds of families lined up at schools across Orange County on Monday as the district distributed ready-to-eat meals for students during the winter break.
The Holiday Curbside Meals program was made possible through funding from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Thirteen schools served as distributions sites where families could pick up multiple days of meals from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. According to the district, the meals included fresh and shelf-stable produce, breakfast, snack meal kits and 1/2 gallons of milk.
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Matia Tilmon is a mother of two elementary school students and was one of the first to line up outside Carver Middle School.
“I have to pay for my groceries, so when I get this food, it really helps out,” Tilmon said. “It means a lot. I work (and) I don’t receive any public assistance.”
In November, a similar distribution was held for the Thanksgiving break. Several locations saw long lines and some families were turned away after supplies ran out.
“The lines were absolutely crazy. It was all the way out to the main street,” Tilmon said. “I missed that one and it was very hard that week to be able to give (my children) Thanksgiving.”
Tilmon said the extra help allows her to have some money to go toward making Christmas special for her children.
In October, the USDA extended the deadline to allow all children under 18 to receive meals at no charge until August 2021.