New Richmond Schools New Lunch Bus Makes its Debut

The new Traveling Lions Lunch Box Bus The New Richmond Exempted Village School District’s new Traveling Lions Lunch Bus made its debut at the May 17 New Richmond Board of Education meeting. This is the first bus of its kind for a Clermont County public school district.

For most people, this was the first glimpse of the retired and repurposed school bus. This summer, the bus will play an integral part in connecting district students with nutritious breakfasts and lunches.

Roughly 40 percent of the district’s students qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program and would likely experience food insecurity during the summer months without access to free, healthy meals.

The summer meals program has become tradition in the New Richmond School District. Every year, for as long as most can remember, prepackaged breakfasts and lunches have been delivered via small transports, and at times by school buses, to drop off locations throughout the district. The funding for this summer meals program is provided by the Ohio Department of Education Summer Food Service Program.

Inside the Lunch Bus. The Lunch Bus is a game changer

Not only will the district be able to deliver prepackaged nutritious meals, but our food service staff will also be able to assemble and serve meals from the Lunch Bus, Student Services Director John Frye said. During the summer months, the district distributes 300 to 500 meals each week to school-aged children. That number is likely to increase with the addition of the Lunch Bus.

“We’ve arrived at this moment thanks to the support of many individuals,” he said. “Over two years ago, the Board of Education designated a retired school bus for the unique second act as the Traveling Lions Lunch Bus.”

A $10,000 grant from Connect Clermont was used to support the conversion of the bus and enabled the district to buy the needed equipment including a handwashing station.

Labor for this project was gifted by the eager volunteers from Connection Point Church in New Richmond where Board Member Robert Wooten serves as pastor.

Feeding the less fortunate has always been a passion and focus for Mr. Wooten. He said that as a Board Member, he saw repurposing the retired school bus as a food bus was an ”awesome way to mitigate hunger in our community.”

A motto of the volunteers from Connection Point Church is “Teamwork makes the Dream Work,” Mr. Wooten said. “They are selfless men and saw volunteering to transform the bus as an opportunity to ‘serve the least of these.’”

Volunteers who made the lunch bus reality