SHADYSIDE — When Gov. Mike DeWine announced that, because of the coronavirus pandemic, he was ordering schools to close, there was immediate concern about students missing the meals they normally receive during the school day.

Rather than just talking about the issue, Shadyside third-grade teacher Nikki Butts reached out to some colleagues and they went to work.

The Shadyside school staff collected donations and went shopping to put together — in essence — grocery orders for any student in the district. Staffers passed out the second week’s worth of merchandise Wednesday morning at Shadyside High School.

“The whole community has definitely been involved with this,” Butts said. “From the teachers helping to sort and hand out, businesses and people in the community donating, it’s been a group effort. It takes a village, that’s for sure.”

According to Butts, the project was jumpstarted by Bre Lappert — a Shadyside High School graduate who owns and operates Hair with Flair in Shadyside.

“Bre messaged me on Facebook and asked what she could do to help,” Butts said. “By the next day, she had collected about $1,000.”

The next day, Lappert and several others went shopping and brought the groceries back to Butts’ classroom.

“They dropped off tons of food,” Butts said. “A few other teachers and I bagged things up and sent them home with students we thought could use it.”

It took off from there.

The school district sent out an email to families in the district about a food pantry.

“We actually took all of the food we had left down there and it’s just kept growing and growing since,” Butts said. “We’ve had businesses, people in the community, the school, teachers, etc. all donate. It’s been amazing.”

Obviously, this situation, which the entire country is enduring, is quite different than when the students are out for summer vacation because of how suddenly this happened.

“In the summer, there are programs available for students and parents are also prepared (for the kids to be off from school),” Butts pointed out. “No one expected this, and people are also losing their jobs, so it creates an even bigger hardship.”

According to Butts, an anonymous donor is paying for 25 families to have dinner at the Central Grille and at this week’s pick-up; Carlini’s Pizza also donated a large number of gift cards for the students to utilize.

Butts would like to see the project continue for as long as needed during the pandemic, but she pointed out that funds and supplies “are currently running low.”

“When we were bagging things (Tuesday night), we ran out of our large variety,” Butts said. “We still have some things left, but not enough to do a large amount of people again next week.”

Butts added that anyone who may want to make donations can do so either in terms of money or products.

“If we can get more donations, and we’re able to get more food, we will continue every Wednesday until it stops,” Butts said.

Anyone seeking more information or who would like to donate should reach out to Butts at 740-579-1256 or via email at nikki.padgett@omeresa.net.