Bill Graham / The Meridian StarLou Ann Lamar, an interventionist at Northeast Lauderdale Elementary, helped deliver meals to students after schools were closed in March. 

When schools were closed in March due to the spread of the coronavirus, Lou Ann Lamar started missing her students.

So when school staff started delivering meals to students, she jumped at the opportunity.

“It was worthwhile because you got to see the kids and the parents,” said Lamar, an interventionist at Northeast Lauderdale Elementary. “Just the appreciation those kids have for someone who cares enough to bring them food.”

Lamar began her teaching career in 1993 and has worked in Memphis, Meridian and at The Lamar School, before moving to the Lauderdale County School District.

Both the Meridian and Lauderdale County districts offered food programs when schools were closed in March. 

The Essentials

Since the middle of March, many of our neighbors have been stuck at home while another group has been working full throttle to meet the demands placed on the community by COVID-19.

While everyone and all good work is important, many of those who continued to meet those demands at their workplace became known as “essential workers.”

Through the remainder of June, we will be profiling some of the people who stepped up in the last several weeks in a series we call “The Essentials.” We hope you enjoy their stories. 

If you’d like to recommend someone for this series or a future profile, please tell us about them in an email at editor@themeridianstar.com.

Before volunteering to deliver meals, Lamar was helping with grab-and-go meal distribution.

After speaking with parents, and realizing she wasn’t seeing some of her students, she decided to help deliver the meals.

Lamar didn’t regret that decision. 

“Being able to place my eyes on some of them was huge,” she said. “They are a part of my life and I am a part of theirs.”

Delivering the meals also helped her better understand and connect with her students.

“It gives you a greater sense of their needs,” she said. “I think that if every teacher thinks about those situations, they would have a little empathy for their children.”

“I think teachers are essential for the educational aspect, but the emotional aspect for children as well,” she added. 

She also wanted to teach her students that volunteering is for everyone.

“They would like to see me and say ‘Mrs. Lamar,’” she said. “I wasn’t just somebody that was at the school – I’m also out in the community doing different things.”