Since the school year ended, families who typically rely on district meal programs have had to turn to other sources for food. As most of these district programs prepare to start up again next week, multiple community resources have filled in the gap, including a COVID Food Task Force.

"I'm kind of working in between the task force and the food service director to kind of see what we can do for the schools right now so we sent a bunch of produce boxes out to the school's during the pandemic when they were sending home food through the school buses," said Chloe Boutelle, the Farm to School Coordinator for the Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County.

Boutelle's task force efforts come alongside multiple other community groups like Mutual Aid, Food Bank of the Southern Tier, and Loaves and Fishes that are working to supply a record numbers of meals.

"283 [meals] is our record and we hit that today and we did one other day last week. Our average right now, we average about 1200 meals per week. And that's just Monday through Friday one time a day for one single hour," said Operations Manager for Loaves and Fishes Isaiah Parker.

And as most school meal programs prepare to start up next week, Tompkins County organizations continue to support one another.

"Yeah the community is pretty amazing here in Tompkins County just people coming together and wanting to make sure people get food resources. It just shows that we have such a strong community and there's going to be a neighbor who cares for you," added Boutelle.

More local resources can be found by calling 211 or texting 898211 or through links on the Tompkins County Food for Families Facebook page.