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—Kelsey Casselbury
Your Lucky Day
O
ur holidays this year all look different and St. Patrick's Day is no exception. There will be no big parades this year, even though annual St. Patrick's Day parade in Annapolis is one of our favorites and will be missed, we have a few other things for you to do to make this March 17th a full day of fun!
PHOTO BY CREEKSIDE LEARNING
Try these 4 fun family activities to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year!
Make a Leprechaun Trap Break out your arts and craft supplies and build a leprechaun trap. Set it out the night before St. Patrick's Day to catch one of those cheeky leprechauns!
Throw Some Green on it Put up some decorations to set the tone for the day. Use lots of green, rainbows, and gold. We hit the Dollar Tree store ever year and grab a few decorations to get festive.
Going Green Let your fashionistas shine and make a game of the day with your wardrobe. Who can wear the most green? Race to your closets, get decked out in green, have a fashion show, and vote for the best!
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P H O T O B Y @ P O S I T I V E LY P E A R S O N
by the fact that some meal sites ran out of food in the early months. “It was a learning curve,” Risse noted in April 2020. However, from the beginning, she was steadfast that anyone—everyone— can pick up food from the schools, despite their income. The meals are funded by USDA, so no one is “taking away meals” from those who need them, and school meals use local products and help sustain the local economy by creating and maintaining jobs. (Risse is proud to say that she hasn’t laid off a single member of her team.) In fact, taking advantage of the meals helps to financially support AACPS’s entire school meal program because the total number of meals served is also used in a calculation that determines how much support it gets from USDA. By early February 2021, the number of total meals served since March 2020 surpassed 5 million, with between 9,300 and 11,600 students servedper day. Over the year, Risse said, they have revised menus to ensure that student favorites, such as tacos, appear regularly, and started providing whole vegetables in the meal bags, so families could add them to their other at-home meals. Jessica Pachler, an AACPS mom, created a group on Facebook called “Cooking with School Meals” that offers discussion on how to use school meal leftovers to avoid food waste. When AACPS implements hybrid learning, slated for March 1, students will be served breakfast and lunch in the classroom, rather than in the cafeteria, and be provided dinner and a snack to take home. Curbside meal pick-up will continue, though the timing may have to be adjusted slightly. When Risse reflects on spring 2020, she laughs. “Honestly, the funniest part is that when we talk about what we used to do, it’s all blurry,” she said. “But our group never lost sight of the kids. The students were their priority from day one.”
Make Some Yummy Fun My mom always made our St. Patrick's Day extra special. Especially because my maiden name is Patrick. Every March 17th we woke up to green bagels or green pancakes with green milk. She made sure we wore our green to school and when we got home we came home to Corned beef and cabbage with carrots and potatoes, all accmpanied by Irish Soda bread. We continue these traditions by accompanying our traditional Irish dinner with a delicious treat. Try making an edible rainbow and if your leprechaun trap doesn't work maybe this treat will catch one! —Jenny Patrick Cardoza M ARCH 2021
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