Malden Schools' Solution For Hungry Students: A Food Truck

MALDEN, MA — Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders joined city and school officials in Malden last week to celebrate the district's new food truck. Sudders met with local children as they stopped by the truck for lunch.

Using a $110,309 Food Security Infrastructure grant, the Malden Public Schools bought the truck to provide free and nutritious meals to students on a regular basis. The district wanted to ensure that access to food was not a burden to families during the pandemic.

Officials said traveling to school to pick up meals, while also balancing the demands of work and remote learning, posed a challenge for many families. They proposed bringing the food to neighborhoods instead, increasing the number of students who are able to access free meals.

"These unprecedented times have posed a number of significant challenges to our students and their families," Mayor Gary Christenson said in December, when Malden was awarded the grant. "We are grateful to point person Toni Mertz and the innovative thinking that has resulted in this award, which will allow us to serve a greater number of families and hopefully make life a bit easier for them during such difficult times."