Calvary Lutheran School provides free hot dinners during shut-down

Cover photo: Food Services Manager Patty Mader delivers hot meals to a family at Calvary Lutheran School. Photo by Kathy Feist

Calvary Lutheran School provides free take-home dinners to families during pandemic

By Kathy Feist

Among the cars stopping to drop off homework or picking up preschool children were those pulling up curbside to receive free Chicken Alfredo dinners delivered fresh from the kitchen at Calvary Lutheran School. The action was enough to warm hearts on an otherwise cold, dismally gray day during the pandemic.

Calvary Lutheran is  a private elementary school off 124th and Wornall Rd. While every public school is providing free sack breakfasts and lunches to school-age children, very few private schools offer the same. And no schools are offering a free hot dinner.

“We’re trying to help out the community,” says Patty Mader, food services manager at the school.

Mader emphasizes that a free take-home dinner is available for anyone ages 18 and under, not just members of the school or church. “We wanted to help the parents on their way home from work,” she says.

Mader says they are not checking IDs and children do not have to be present. “No questions are asked,” says Mader.

Meals are delivered to cars from 4 to 6 pm. The schedule coordinates with the pick-up time for parents with preschool children at Calvary’s Early Childhood Center, which remains open during the coronovirus shut-down.

All meals include a main dish, vegetable, fruit and milk (if requested). Dinners so far have included chicken Alfredo, turkey and mashed potatoes, chicken patties, hamburgers–all are made on site, courtesy the USDA’s National School Lunch Program.

The school began the free supper program on April 1. “So far there is plenty of food for anyone,” says Mader.

To place an order or find out more information, contact Mader at pmader@calvarykc.com.

Calvary Lutheran School is located at 12411 Wornall Rd. It shares a campus with the Lutheran High School. Calvary is located on the far east end of the campus, where the driveway curves north.