Community organizations served free lunches to more than 2,000 Durham students on Friday, May 1, after Durham Public Schools canceled classes so educators could rally in Raleigh for more state funding.
Day One Relief, Durham Public Schools Strong, and the Union of Southern Service Workers coordinated seven distribution sites across the city, many inside Durham Housing Authority neighborhoods. Volunteers offered hot meals including hamburgers, hot dogs, and fried fish, plus take-home bags packed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, fruit, juice, and snack bars.
"We know that lots of kids and families rely on our public schools for daily regular meals," said Magan Gonzales-Smith, a parent organizer with Durham Public Schools Strong. Sites were chosen based on areas of greatest need.
At Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, Astrid Guillen brought her seven-year-old son Liam, who found time between lunch and a game of frisbee to offer his own review: "It's a good day to be off." For Yanera Justice, a mother of four working two jobs, the timing was pointed. "At the beginning of the month, that's when I get food stamps," she said. "By the end of the month, everything starts getting low."
At Oxford Manor, Ms. Pamela said rising grocery prices made the volunteers' visit feel like a lifeline. Mama Cookie of USSW connected the meal gap to deeper instability. "We've got a housing problem. We've got a homeless problem. When you have children who are homeless, that's a problem."
Pastor Cornelius Battle opened Ebenezer's doors for food, games, and portrait drawing. "The church isn't some elevated building detached from the community," he said. "The church goes into the community and tries to make a difference."
In Raleigh, thousands of educators, parents, and children gathered at Halifax Mall behind the "Kids Over Corporations" message, pushing the General Assembly to halt corporate tax cuts and redirect that revenue to schools. North Carolina ranked 50th in the Education Law Center's 2025 public education spending rankings. The state's education share of the budget has fallen more than 13 percentage points over the past 60 years.
Organizers say the Durham meal effort will be needed again whenever school closures leave families without the meals that public schools provide every other day of the year.