Camas Schools Update: Backpack Program Donations, Grab-and-Go Kids Meals

Dear Camas Community,

Thank you so much for your generosity Camas! Our community has donated a significant amount of food, clothing, personal hygiene items, and more than $3,000 to our Backpack Program and Community Family Resource Center. These donations will go a long way toward supporting our students and families during this difficult time.

Speaking of our grab-and-go meal service, we received questions about it that I’d like to address. 

Q: Should I take advantage of this service even if I don’t really need it? 

A: The intent of this service is to provide food for children who experience food insecurity. Given that these are unprecedented times, we know students who normally would not have trouble getting enough to eat, might be experiencing food insecurity now. If you need meals, please take them. If you don’t, then don’t.

Q: If we don’t all take the grab-and-go meals, they will just be thrown out, right?

A: We manage to use most of the perishable items we have on hand. Very little will has gone to waste. Please only use the service if needed. 

We have been monitoring the pick-up locations for food service and will continue to adjust times and locations as needs change. Please stay tuned to daily communication about food services. Our next day of service is Monday, March 23. 

As we mentioned yesterday, our staff will receive training on Monday and Tuesday. We will be communicating more next week about what learning will look like during the closure. We will also be sharing more information related to high school learning next week after we receive guidance from state officials. Today the College Board, which runs Advanced Placement, provided some updates for high school students about testing this spring. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/news-changes/coronavirus-update 

With any new information, comes questions, and it seems like information is changing daily. We will be working to support students through these changes and keep families informed. 

Finally, please keep sharing Stories from Camas (http://bit.ly/39XdAx2) with me. You can email me at StoriesfromCamas@gmail.com. I’m updating daily with some inspiring and fun stories. Thanks to everyone who has shared. My son Micah and I are doing a storytime that you can access from the site, too!

Thank you Camas!

Jeff Snell, Superintendent 
Camas School District