First Student Delivers Over 1 Million Meals During School Closures

CINCINNATI — First Student school bus drivers have delivered more than one million meals, as well as instructional materials, to students across the U.S. and have also transported medical workers during school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am incredibly proud of the role our drivers and staff are playing to support families during this unprecedented time,” said First Student President Paul Osland. “Hunger is an issue for many students, and we appreciate being able to use our resources to partner with districts to provide children access to the meals and supplies they need while schools are closed.”

More than 150 First Student locations have been supporting school districts with a variety of services since March.

Examples of meal deliveries include:

•    Albany, N.Y.: Daily delivery of more than 1,400 meals for City School District of Albany.
•    Gresham, Ore.: Weekly delivery of nearly 6,000 meals for the Gresham-Barlow School District.
•    Laconia, N.H.: Daily delivery of 2,400 meals for the Laconia School District.
•    Southfield, Mich.: Weekly delivery of 7,200 meals for Southfield Public Schools.

First Student drivers in other communities have transported instructional materials, including books and laptops. In Buffalo, N.Y., staff delivered 7,000 curriculum packets across the city in one day for Buffalo Public Schools.

In addition, First Student locations have provided transportation shuttles for health care workers and others on the front line of the pandemic.

First Planning Solutions, the school bus company’s routing division, has also supported more than 25 school districts with logistics and planning of meal and school supply deliveries.