A partnership that helps feed Austin ISD caregivers and support local restaurants will continue through December after the city of Austin voted to extend funding for the Caregiver Meal program.

The Caregiver Meal program was made possible by the Austin Ed Fund’s AISD Crisis Support Fund, which received an additional $1.5 million dollars.

AISD’s partnership with Austin Ed Fund will continue providing caregiver meals to adult caregivers prepared by local Austin restaurants. These include restaurants like Easy Tiger, Henbit and Good Work Austin's L'oca d'Oro, Colleen's Kitchen, Contigo and Rosedale Kitchen and Bar, which provide healthy foods that complement the menu served to students. Caregiver meals are served alongside student meals at curbside distribution sites throughout the district.

“In what has been a historically challenging time to own a restaurant, it has been a gift to obtain stability working with the caregiver program,” said L'Oca d'Oro chef and owner Fiore Tedesco. “Creating meals for families and communities that need our help during these tough times means a great deal to our entire team at Fiore and we are more than happy to have this opportunity.”

Since beginning in May, restaurant partners have provided 582,662 meals for caregivers.

Melinda Rodriguez is the cafeteria manager at Houston Elementary School, where caregiver meals are distributed every Thursday. She says that her staff has been tremendous during these times.

“Our staff works so hard to make sure that these meals are distributed,” Rodriguez said. “We have seen how grateful the community has been by giving us letters and pictures thanking us. It's a lot of hard work and planning, but it is such a great feeling seeing the smiles on families faces.”

For more information on the Caregiver Meal program such as pickup locations please visit www.austinisd.org/openforlearning/meals.