SACRAMENTO – Sacramento City Unified School District is celebrating its role in combating hunger in Sacramento by marking the distribution of the millionth meal since school sites were closed due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. 
 
“Sac City Unified is proud to provide nutritious meals to thousands of students who might otherwise go hungry,” said Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. “Meeting the need for more than a million meals over just seven weeks to combat hunger demonstrates one of the vital roles of our schools. There are many uncertainties ahead in the COVID-19 crisis that have families understandably worried. Sac City Unified’s ongoing student nutrition program is an important service that our students and families can count on.”
 
Thursday is also when Sac City Unified will celebrate School Lunch Hero Day to recognize the 280 members of the District’s nutrition services team who prepare, distribute and serve meals to students throughout the year.  
 
“We would not have met the milestone of serving a million meals without our School Lunch Heroes,” said Sac City Unified Board President Jessie Ryan. “Our Sac City Unified nutrition service team members literally move mountains of food daily so our students can benefit from nutritious meals. From managing our warehouse, cooking nutritious meals, directing logistics to transport meals, and distributing meals to students, our School Lunch Heroes are the face of our District during this crisis and throughout our school year.” 
 
Sac City Unified distributes approximately 36,000 meals per day Monday through Wednesday, including breakfast, lunch and a snack. The district distributes twice that amount on Thursdays when it provides meals to last students for two days. The meal menu changes daily.
 
The district distributes meals Monday through Thursday at 31 school sites across the district, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30, or while supplies last. 
 
Sac City Unified prepares the meals for thousands of students daily based on census data for youth in the community and demand in compliance with the federal meal program. Each of the district’s meal distribution sites completely distributes its full supply of student meals each day. 
 
To further combat hunger in Sacramento, Sac City Unified is frequently joined by Patrick Mulvaney, head chef at Mulvaney’s B&L, who provides supplemental meal kits designed to provide a dinner for a family of four.  The supplemental family meal kits are prepared by restaurant staff and can easily be cooked at home. The supplemental meal kits are the result of a local chef-driven initiative to put independent restaurants to work by creating and distributing meals for at-risk populations during the COVID-19 crisis.
 
Mulvaney has distributed over 3,200 family meals to help feed the Sacramento community since the initiative started.  
 
For more information, including locations of Sac City Unified’s student meal distribution sites, visit Sac City Unified website at www.scusd.edu.