Coronavirus heroes: Leaders of Centre County’s free meal programs inspire action

When schools closed in mid-March, community organizations and volunteers sprang into action to make sure families struggling to put food on the table had assistance.

From downtown businesses offering free meals to a milk giveaway, there have been countless examples of generosity and support across Centre County. And two programs have provided thousands upon thousands of free meals for local families, with the support of hundreds of volunteers and with Mel Curtis at the helm of the YMCA Food Program and Megan Schaper heading the State College Area School District’s food distribution program.

“Most people are very proud. Most people don’t want anyone else to think that they can’t take care of their family. So you have to be very cautious on how you do things,” Curtis said during a recent phone interview. “It’s constantly planning.”

’Contagious’ energy at the heart of YMCA feeding programs

For Curtis, director of the Moshannon Valley YMCA, 14-hour days are nothing out of the ordinary.

“I’m constantly calling people and making sure that we do have that line of food that’s going to be coming in, so I know that we’re going to be taking care of everybody that needs it,” he said.

He has run the YMCA’s anti-hunger programs — the Backpack Weekend Food Program and Summer Lunch Program — for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought about unique challenges. Students were not in school to pick up the backpacks full of food, and unemployment and financial uncertainty for Centre County families meant high need.

So the summer lunch program started early, and the backpack program came to kids instead, with 34 feeding sites across the county every weekday, in addition to soup drive-thrus, home delivery and more.

By early June, the YMCA’s food program had distributed more than 116,000 meals. It’s made possible by an army of volunteers who say they’re inspired by Curtis’ drive and vision for the program.

“I’ve been working out of the Y for years, and I’ve seen the great things Mel does and I wanted to be a part of that,” said Teresa Mull, who helps run the Penn Highlands Family Center in Philipsburg. “He’s always working so hard and I really admire the stuff he does for our community.”

Becky Briggs, a member of the YMCA of Centre County advisory committee who runs a food center in the Osceola Mills/Houtzdale area, credits the success of the program to Curtis’ attitude rubbing off on those around him.

“He lights this fire in people and it just spreads. It’s completely contagious, and once you get a feel for it all you’re left asking is what can we do next,” she said.

For his part, Curtis is usually the man behind the scenes (or inside the Easter Bunny costume during a spring food distribution event), giving the credit to the volunteers and outside organizations that have also stepped up to help.

“The Red Cross, they come in and deliver stuff for us. Civil Air Patrol unloads vehicles and loads vehicles and distributes food. We have a large donor group outside of the Philipsburg area that unloads all of our tractor trailers. They’re the ones who are making things happen,” he said.

Part of the job is coming up with new ways to get food out to those in need, and Curtis has come up with outside the box ways to make it exciting.

“We started at night delivering pizza from firetrucks,” Curtis said. “Kids love firetrucks. We were in Centre Hall and had very high success with it, and then we came into the Philipsburg area and did it here and it just went totally crazy.”

Mull said Curtis sends out daily emails to staff, to tell them how they are making a difference and encourage them to keep persevering.

“He’s out there volunteering, handing out boxes too — and he loves to do that,” Mull said. “He’s always thinking of new ideas, and he just has such a can-do attitude. I’ve never seen him get down or discouraged, he’s always very much ‘we will find a way.’ And whenever you have a leader like that ... you start to think that way too.”

Working to feed ‘their kids’ outside of the cafeteria

The State College Area School District was faced with the same challenge once schools closed in mid-March: How to keep children fed during a time when many families are in crisis.

The result is the weekly food distribution program, led by Food Service Director Megan Schaper and funded by the National School Lunch Program’s Seamless Summer Option. Every Wednesday, the program distributes meal kits that provide a week’s worth of breakfasts and lunches to families in need.

“When I learned that schools would be closing, I immediately knew that could be a problem for some of our children and families,” Schaper said. “Meals served at school are sometimes the best, most reliable food that some children have access to. So, it quickly became a priority to figure out how we could continue to provide food to families even though schools were closed.”

SCASD’s program distributes as many as 13,000 meals a week and serves over 500 families, which is something Schaper attributes to her caring food service workers and dedicated community volunteers.

“My staff, they’re just lovely people who during a regular, normal school year they consider those children who come to their cafeteria their kids,” she said. “Immediately (when the pandemic started), my staff is thinking about their kids and how this is affecting them.”

It’s now down to a science, and takes a lot of coordination to pack the meals while also keeping volunteers safe.

“We have lists of what goes in the bags — on the bottom of the bag, middle of the bag, at the top of the bag,” Schaper said. “We’re trying to make sure that we’re keeping frozen food cold, and that sandwich buns and potato chips don’t get smashed. We’re trying to do this quickly and efficiently while also keeping workers 6 feet apart.”

Heidi Arruda, a nurse in the district, attributes the success of the program to Schaper, who keeps everything running smoothly and operates on a timely schedule.

“She really has every aspect figured out,” Arruda said. “Megan is just always thinking about how we can still keep people safe ... and how we can provide nutritious meals to students.”

It’s been a true “group effort,” Schaper said, that includes community partners such as Penn State Housing and Food Services and Weis Markets, which have provided extra food to distribute, and local restaurants that have brought lunch for volunteers and free kids meal coupons to share with families.

“I think the fact that we can come in and help make sure those kids are OK and being taken care of has been great for me and my staff,” Schaper said. “We like being able to take care of the students in this district and it’s nice that this program gave us the opportunity to continue to do that.”