The Mountain Empire Unified School District covers more than 650 square miles in Southeast San Diego County. Much of the area is considered a food desert, meaning residents don’t have access to fresh, healthy food.
“We have just two or three liquor stores and then one small grocery market,” said Hannah Hong, a mother of two kids in the district. “It takes at least 30 minutes to get out and get food.”
In Boulevard, Clover Flat Elementary School students and their parents can now pick up food twice a month from Feeding San Diego’s school food pantry.
At the organization’s other school pantries, families walk through and pick out groceries after school. In the Mountain Empire Unified School District, 97% of students take the school bus, said Gary Brannon, who directs the district’s student services. That means the amount of food they can take home is limited by what they can carry.
He said Clover Flat Elementary has students leave their classrooms one by one during the school day to visit the pantry.
“They're able to select what they want, figure out what they can carry, and then they go back to their class,” he said.
Along with fresh produce, they try to provide pre-packaged food that doesn’t require much cooking, since the area can face frequent power outages. On Monday, options included apples, bell peppers, cans of spaghetti rings and fruit cups.
The district serves multiple unincorporated communities and reservations. More than 60% of the district’s students are eligible for free or reduced price meals.
Brannon said the food pantry is one of many ways schools are acting as community hubs.
“It lets people know that this is a place you can come for support, whether it's food or education or other services,” he said. “It's beyond just taking care of the kids. It's taking care of our community.”
Clover Flat Elementary is one of two rural schools with Feeding San Diego food pantries. There are more than 60 others in the county and more schools on the waitlist.
