Maya McFadden Photo
Birna Bermudez gets her first delivery from Lucina Capuano.
A visitor came to Birna Bermudez’s home from New Haven’s public schools and dropped off a new form of pandemic assistance: 14 meals’ worth of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Birna Bermudez can’t work or leave her home often, because she takes care of her 10-year-old son and her husband, who is legally blind and has an injured foot. After struggling since the start of the pandemic. Bermudez received her first delivery of seven breakfast and seven lunch meals for her son Friday thanks to a new effort launched by New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) .
The delivery to Bermudez’s home in the Brookside public-housing development was made by Lucina Capuano, a lead cook for NHPS.
NHPS introduced its meal-kit delivery service in November to help feed families who can’t get out to the grab-and-go sites launched during the pandemic, or who prefer to receive fresh ingredients to cook seven healthful breakfast and seven lunch meals at home.
Birna Bermudez: Son loves veggies.
“I had to keep close track of my food stamps to make sure I could get food all month,” Bermudez said in explaining why she signed up for the deliveries.
Bermudez hasn’t worked during the pandemic due to having to care for her son and her husband.
Recently her 21-year-old son moved back in with her. Because of his income, her rent has increased. “My son is scared to go outside. I can’t always help him because I have to worry about stuff like scraping by with what we have,” she said.
When Bermudez brought Friday’s meal kit, inside, her son’s eyes strayed from his online class and lit up at the sight of the frozen vegetables like corn, broccoli, and carrots.
“He loves vegetables. I’m glad every meal comes with them,” she said.
Last week’s meal kits contained ingredients for a meatball sub, hamburger, cheese pizza, and more.
NHPS Food Service Director Gail Sharry partnered with Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of New Haven to receive approval to deliver to its properties and help identify families in need.
Lucina Capuano on her rounds.
The initiative delivers to about 25 – 50 families a week. Families are also given the option to pick up the meal kits from High School in the Community, King-Robinson Inter-District Magnet School, or Hill Regional Career High School on Friday from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
The food provided follows the regulations for the USDA Summer Food Service Program.
Families must call in to pre-order the meals for a delivery on Monday, Thursday, or Friday. Each day a different route of four to five stops are made starting at 8:30 a.m until 1 p.m.
Monday deliveries are made to Mill River Crossing, 14 – 16 Garden St., McConaughy Terrace, and the West Rock police substation at 333 Valley St. Thursday deliveries are made to the St. Anthony apartments on Quinnipiac Avenue, the Essex Townhouses, the Scott Ridge Apartments on Eastern Circle, and Quinnipiac School. Friday deliveries are made to Westville Manor, Rockview Terrace, Brookside, Twin Brooks, and the Fair Haven substation at 295 Blatchley Ave.
Families can call (475) 220‑1612 to pre-order and register their students. To register families must provide the student(s) name, school, delivery stop, pick-up person, and student(s) allergies. Calls should be made Monday, Tuesday 9 a.m to 3 p.m or Wednesday between 9 a.m to noon.
Eileen Gary: The food lasts.
Eileen Gary received her delivery straight at home Friday on Rockview Circle. Gary has two sons with autism, ages 12 and 16.
Gary has been using the service for about a month, saving on the extra cost of having groceries and hot meals delivered from private services.
With her boys home all the time, Gary struggles to find the time to go to the closest school to pick up hot meals, she said. “These come with a lot so it usually last until the next time they come.”
The meal kits have also given Gary a daily task to perform with the family. “This is good family time, because they’re home more now.”
Capuano has been delivering the meal kits each week since the start of the initiative. The most popular delivery stops have been Westville Manor, Eastern Street, and Quinnipiac School.
“This is my calling. This is what we need to do during a pandemic and even when it’s over,” Capuano said.
In Westville Manor seven families made orders for meal-kit deliveries. A grandmother of six picked up the most Capuano has ever delivered. The Westville Manor resident takes care of her six grandkids daily. She didn’t place a pre-order for Friday, but when she saw the other families picking up their kits. she asked Capuano if she had extras for her grandkids.
“I couldn’t just leave her with nothing,” Capuano said.
Capuano returns to Westville Manor to make final last minute delivery.
Capuano not only gave the grandmother the pre-order number but went back to HSC, where the meals are packaged, and had the team make six last-minute kits for the grandmother.
When the program started, Westville Manor resident Pearl McKee would collect her neighbors’ orders and place them all together.
In the future Capuano hopes the initiative can obtain use of a bus to make the deliveries. “I would just load up the bus and drive around to neighborhoods each day, announcing that I have free meals on the intercom,” she said.
More info on food/hunger-related issues, organizations:
• Learn about local food waste and recovery: how; why; what you can do
• Act on national food policy
• Help Haven’s Harvest offer surplus food pick-up and delivery connecting business with community in New Haven
• National effort to reduce food waste