Volunteers make 600K lunches to make sure kids don't go hungry during teacher walkout
Four hundred and eighty seven peanut butter and jellies.
That's how many sandwiches Heidi Richmond delivered to kids in Arizona on Thursday during the teacher #RedForEd walkout.
Richmond, a museum marketing manager from Scottsdale, told ABC News she offered to make and deliver meals for many of the 600,000-plus students across the state as educators and staff go on strike. More than 75 percent of students in Arizona rely on free meals at school so they don't go hungry.
"I'm not a teacher, I'm not a parent and I'm not a student, but I am #RedForED," said Richmond, who supports the movement.
"Education is really important to me," she added. "The kids that are in school learning right now will end up being our doctors and lawyers. I want to see change in Arizona. I respect that educators wouldn't normally do something like this. It affects their kids and that's why were seeing this movement. They can no longer deal with the lack of support and funding. I think that's why, in great part, they're standing up."
Arizona teachers went on strike this week to put pressure on lawmakers into approving a 20 percent pay hike, increase education funding to $1 billion and boost the salaries of school support staff.
Public educators in Arizona rank 46th in the nation in teacher pay, earning about $12,000 less than the national average of $59,660, according to a 2018 report by the National Education Association.
Earlier this week, Richmond took to Facebook asking if people would like packed lunches delivered to their home or districts, knowing that some students would not receive the school meals so many of them rely on.
Flooded with requests and volunteer offers, Richmond she she got started at 9 p.m. on April 25, hand-making sandwiches until 4 a.m. As of Thursday, she and a group of volunteers delivered hundreds of lunches and are "losing count," she said.
“We love our kids and work to make sure they get fed year-round -- the walk-out was no different," said Kayla Miller, a school psychologist who volunteers with Richmond. "Educators wanted to be in two places because we know that this walkout is necessary and that our voices were needed at the capitol but we also needed to make sure our kids were cared for. By working together, the community and educators were able to meet our kids’ needs right now and for the future.”
Richmond is one of many teachers, parents and concerned citizens who are working to feed over 600,000 students that participate in the National School Lunch Program.
Each bag delivered includes a sandwich (no peanut butter for kids with allergies/restrictions), breakfast items, a bag of chips, a can of tuna, two pieces of fruit, crackers and instant oatmeal.
All of the food items and ingredients have been donated, Richmond said.
Richmond's initiative is not the only one of its kind. Another is the Phoenix-based St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, which typically serves 7,000 daily meals after school. St. Mary's has also been preparing boxed lunches and emergency food boxes in anticipation of the walkout.
ABC News' Clayton Sandell and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
