Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, the all-girls public charter school in Hamilton County, has taken student meals on the road.
The school, which serves students in grades 6 through 12 from predominantly low-income neighborhoods in Chattanooga, launched the “Mustang Express” Thursday morning as schools across the state find ways to support students and families while they are closed due to COVID-19 concerns.
The “Mustang Express” is a partnership with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga and volunteers who will load up CGLA school buses and deliver students meals and general household supplies straight to CGLA families.
The main concern for Elaine Swafford, chief executive officer of the school, with schools closed is ensuring students have access to the food and basic supplies that are necessary to a young person’s well-being, Swafford said in a press release.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / YMCA staff member Pedro Bautista and Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy volunteer Justin Swafford, load YMCA prepared meals, onto a bus from the Siren Safe Transportation LLC. Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy established Mustang Express to ease some of the burden caused by the COVID-19 crisis by suppling students and their families with meals and household supplies. The first run of the express left CGLA early in the morning on March 19, 2020.“Providing provisions that maintain a child’s health, notably nutritional, balanced meals, improves a student’s ability to academically engage and achieve,” said Swafford in the release. “We want to support our students so we will begin delivering meals on Thursday, March 19.”