As crews work to restore power in Hall County after Tropical Storm Irma tore through Georgia and left many in the dark, the area’s six middle schools are offering free meals to those impacted by the devastating system.
Lunch will be served from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m., the district said in a statement. The system, which provided similar services Thursday afternoon to anyone in the community, is also offering access to school showers.
This is, however, the last day the Hall schools are offering the service because students return to classes Monday.
“Bring your own towels and soap,” the district said. “First responders, road crews and power crews are invited.”
Irma plowed through Georgia on Monday and brought down trees and power lines. At the height of the storm, 1.5 million people across the state lost power.
About 4,850 Georgia Power customers in Hall County were still without service Friday morning, according to the utility.
It was not clear how many Jackson EMC customers were in the dark Friday. More than 3,000 were waiting on service to be restored as of 6 p.m. Thursday, the last time the utility posted an update.
Communities near North Hall and East Hall middle schools were those hardest hit in Hall County, Gordon Higgins, the spokesman for the school district, said.
“We had over 200 people at North Hall (Thursday),” Higgins said.
East Hall served about 315 people.
Administrators at North Hall and Chestatee Academy, another school providing the free offerings, went so far as to pick up school community members if they didn’t have transportation.
“We always want our parents and students to know we care about them,” Higgins said.
Free meals and showers are being offered at the following locations:
Davis Middle
4450 Hog Mountain Road, Flowery Branch
Chestatee Academy
2470 Fran Mar Drive, Gainesville
East Hall Middle
4120 East Hall Road, Gainesville
North Hall Middle
4856 Rilla Road, Gainesville
South Hall Middle
4335 Falcon Parkway, Flowery Branch
West Hall Middle
5470 McEver Road, Oakwood
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