PAW PAW, Mich. — Paw Paw is another school district in West Michigan helping students during this time of need. However, the district is doing things a bit differently than most.
Trever Tate, a Van Buren County Sheriff's Office deputy, is helping the district package and deliver the food for kids that need it.
"It's just part of the job when you become a police officer," Tate said. "That's what you sign up for."
Tate and other teachers and staff from the Paw Paw school district came together on Friday morning packing 5,630 meals for their students.
"We started seven this morning," Tate added. "Prepping the food, cutting vegetables, cleaning fruit, now we're in the process of packing it all up to get it to the families."
Then it was time to load the hundreds of bags into vehicles, including Tate's cruiser. While he tries to avoid face-to-face contact with those he is delivering to, he says delivering the food in uniform has a big impact on those that see him.
"It sure beats writing vaping tickets in the school bathrooms," Tate said with a sense of humor. "But anything I can do to help out in the community to show that police are there to help is great for us and our department."
And the Paw Paw community is certainly grateful for the support and quick action of the administration.
"The number one thought for all of us was we know that there are kids that depend on school lunch and school support to survive," said Tate.
In tough times like these, he says it's incredible to watch communities of all sizes band together to make a difference.
"It's not just our community, you see so many others coming together during a terrible situation. To see people step up and help out, it's honestly quite emotional."