St. Pat’s feeding hungry home-bound minds

Blanca Maldonado, a St. Patrick School, Wichita, kitchen worker prepares lettuce for a salad to be given to children of four Catholic schools who are being home-schooled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Advance photos)

St. Patrick School in Wichita isn’t forgetting that students need fuel to study – even when they’re stuck at home because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kitchen workers and other hourly staff who might otherwise not be working are preparing breakfasts and lunches for students of Holy Savior Catholic Academy, and St. Patrick, St. Margaret Mary, and Christ the King Catholic schools.

Brandon Relph, St. Pat’s principal, said they are also feeding some of the families in the neighborhood.

“We started working during spring break to figure out how we might accomplish this task,” he said.

“Altogether we prep about 740 lunches and 740 breakfasts every day, Monday through Friday. We serve almost 1,500 meals a day.”

Relph said about 450 of the meals are given to children who are driven past the make-shift drive-thru on the north side of the cafeteria.