Students in Brown County will still have the opportunity to eat two meals a day while schools are closed due to the threat of COVID-19 — the coronavirus.

Superintendent Laura Hammack announced the “Grab and Go” meal program for both breakfast and lunch last week. It will run from March 23 to April 3 when schools will be closed. Meals will be available at each elementary school and Brown County High School.

Schools will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Families may cam come at any time during that window for meal pickup. Schools will not be open for any other purpose other than meal distribution.

Meals will also be available at the Bean Blossom Trailer Court and Forest Hills Apartments from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A school bus will be at those sites to distribute meals from and will honk when it arrives, a statement released by the district this morning states.

The meals are for all students in Brown County Schools and are at no cost to families, according to a statement from the district.

In order to prevent social gathering, staff will meet families at the front door of the buildings with their meals. If the weather cooperates, staff can meet families at their vehicles.

The service is also available for people who cannot leave their homes because they are sick.

“If you are homebound because you and/or anyone else in your home are showing symptoms of the virus (high fever, coughing, shortness of breath), you can register for meals to be delivered to your home. In these cases, you will need to provide us with a working cell phone number so we can let you know the expected time of delivery. Our Brown County Schools transportation department is preparing to make these deliveries daily, if needed,” the statement reads.

Families are encouraged to fill out a survey by March 19 so that the district has enough meals for distribution at the schools and to homes. Families can pick up meals at the school of their choice even if all of the children do not attend school at that location, according to the statement.

“We simply need to know the number of meals that you need in total,” the statement states.

School administrative teams will be on hand to help deliver meals along with the Chartwells Food Service team.

If anyone signed up to receive meals at one of the schools, but would prefer to pick up in Bean Blossom or at Forest Hills Apartments they can just resubmit their survey.