Matthew Burnette Staff Writer

Over the summer, a whopping 136,000 meals were given out to kids and teenagers 18 and under in 7-day packs provided by Coffee County Schools.

The packs included seven days’ worth of breakfasts and lunches and were a part of a non-congregate summer feeding program funded by the USDA. Non-congregate refers to the participants’ ability to take the meals with them. A local church also delivered meals to children in hotels and at some daycares.

Director of School Nutrition Carlan Cotten explained that she heard No Kid Hungry representative Marissa Spady give an inspirational and promotional speech about the program at an in-service and thought it might be a fit for Coffee County.

“I said ‘I think we can maybe do this,’ so I came back, and I have two co-managers that do the summer feeding program Kelly Arnold, the cafeteria manager at Hickerson, and Jesika Pobanz who’s the cafeteria manager at Hillsboro,” she recalled. “They were like ‘We’ve got to do this. We’ve got to take care of our community.’”

Cotten, Arnold and Pobanz decided to hold the program at Coffee County Middle School. The three initially thought they would have 200 people come, and then after getting the word out, it might grow to 400. They ended up handing out over 900 packs the first day.

While Cotten says she got the program going by doing the paperwork, the real work came on the ground. She hired a few staff members to work for the program, and they were joined by others who wished to help distribute the food.

“I also had volunteers that came and packed bags that helped pass out, and we had so many volunteers,” said Cotten. “We even had a school board member, and they would sometimes bring their children, and they would get to participate, and so not only was it a wonderful experience to help serve our community, but we had kids, and it was like a fun family event, too.”

Arnold said she was grateful to get to see the joy that the program brought to so many.

“I was happy for the families,” she said. “We were so thankful to see the kids light up when they saw all of their food, and we knew they didn’t have to worry about where their next meal would come from which is huge.”

Cotten also noted how great it was to get to see the kids’ faces when they came to get their packs for the week.

“We had a bus that came through that had foster kids in it, and they pulled in, and we brought out the food, and all those kids got so excited,” she remembered. “We had a lot of kids that volunteered and did a fabulous job. It’s amazing how our community came together to do this project.”

“It was incredible to see so many people doing it and feeling good about it. Nobody complained, and everybody was excited. It was the best feeling in the world,” she added.

Each pack consisted of milk, fruits or vegetables, a grain or bread and meat or a protein alternative. They also made sure the meals could be heated by children in unique situations like living in a hotel that may not have access to certain appliances.

“We made sure it was food that you could put in a microwave and heat up or you could just eat it,” Cotten explained. “Kelly and Jesika put a lot of thought into it. We all came together and put together menus that would suit anybody. Kids are home by themselves, and you don’t want them turning on the oven. You want them to be able to stick it in the microwave.”

With the summer feeding program and Coffee County School students receiving free meals when they go back for the 2025-2026 school year, Cotten says it helps towards their goal of kids being happy and healthy.

“For one thing when they come to school, now we’re feeding them for free, so they’re guaranteed to get something in their stomach before they start their school day, and in the middle of the day when they are still working, they’ll have free lunch,” she said. “I think we’ll see results as far as kids being healthier, doing better in school, and maybe it will help with attendance.”

Cotten explained that the thought of the children who only get good meals when they are in school or if their parents are home was enough to drive the effort to launch the summer feeding program

“This was something easy for anybody to fix, and I think we’ll see kids come back to school a little more energetic and ready to go,” she noted

Cotten, who is also the Director of Student Services, has been the Director of School Nutrition for a decade.

She came to Coffee County from Rutherford County where she taught for years after deciding she wanted to try something different, and the School Nutrition position worked well with her accounting degree.

“I’m not in the cafeterias as much so it was a good fit for me having that degree and having been in education so I just thought this was something I would really enjoy, and I have enjoyed every second of the last ten years,” she explained. “We just keep looking for things that we can get involved in and help kids. It doesn’t matter if I was teaching or doing this, I got to have some part in it.”

Upon reflecting on the summer program, Cotten says she just feels a sense of pride at how her workers and the volunteers stuck it out through rain and storms and other weather.

“We were out there, and it was 90 something degrees when we were out there and it just didn’t stop,” she recalled. “They all did it with smiles on their faces. We had fun and felt like we did a great service for the community. I’m proud of our school nutrition department because we came together.”