When schools closed a year ago, Michelle Wallis, executive director of the Austin Ed Fund, knew her priority would be making sure families had food on the table. Inspired by districts outside of Texas launching similar initiatives, she started the caregiver meals program to provide food to parents alongside the food the Austin district was distributing to children.
The first version of the program was active for just a few weeks in March before running out of funding. Wallis restarted the program in May with a combination of city money and private donations.
Just over a year after the first meal was distributed, the program has delivered 1.27 million meals.