HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Governor Tom Wolf did his best Thursday to reassure parents that kids will be back in their classrooms come fall. He’s also providing funding to bolster the food supply chain.
“Any day at a market is a good day,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding during a press conference at Harrisburg’s Broad Street Market, an oasis in the mostly food desert of the Capital city.
Wolf and his team chose the market to announce $10 million in federal dollars would go to nourish a food supply chain rattled by Coronavirus. Grocery stores, farms and markets across the state, whose retail is at least 50-percent staples and fresh food and who serve low to moderate income communities, are eligible to apply for grants between $100,000 and $1 million.
“That every Pennsylvanian has access to fresh food and every pennsylvanians has access to a healthy and balanced diet,” Wolf said.
Covid-19 laid bare the weaknesses and flaws in the system, from empty store shelves in grocery stores to farmers dumping their milk. The grant money aims to shore up the gaps.
“It’s food infrastructure,” said Redding. “It’s refrigeration, It’s food access, It’s electronic benefit access for people who otherwise can’t access and it’s trying to encourage the purchase of Pennsylvania products.”
But the state is not just focused on food. It is also concerned about feeding young minds.
“School will be there in the fall,” said Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine confidently Thursday. “We’re all looking forward to that.”
But looking forward, school will be looking different across the commonwealth.
“Some schools will have a mix of online and in-class instruction,” Wolf said.
Some schools will separate and space kids, others will stagger days they attend, and all will wear masks per a Department of Education mandate. But each of the 500 districts will decide the specifics.
“The goal is to make it so that school districts are opening in a way that makes parents, the students, the teachers, other educators and staff feel safe,” Wolf said.
The governor chuckled when asked what President Donald Trump meant when he said he’d cut funding to schools that decide not to re-open because of the pandemic.
“I have no idea. You’ll have to ask him.”
