Beaver school employees keep kids fed despite water woes

BEAVER — Drinking water is still unavailable for people within Beaver as crews repair the city's culinary system that was damaged in a flash flood.

Beaver Mayor Matt Robinson told KSL the city hopes the water will be safe to consume by Wednesday or possibly Thursday, depending on test results.

People in Beaver have had to boil water or drink bottled water since Sunday when heavy rain fell on the Cottonwood Fire burn scar, sending water and debris cascading down the mountain and through the southern Utah city.

Not having water has made things complicated, including for those tasked with feeding hundreds of children every day as part of the federal summer nutrition program.

But Beaver County School District employees said despite the city's water problems, quitting was never an option.

"We don't want the kids to be hungry," said Trina Robinson, the school district's food service manager, who's not related to the mayor.

She added, "There's always kids that are hungry. Always."

Finding a workaround

The school district serves hundreds of free lunches each day during the summer. Since the city's water isn't safe to consume, cooking is a challenge.

As a workaround to the water woes, the food service employees have been using bottled water to prepare meals this week. Tuesday's menu included burritos, rice, beans and watermelon.

"Good thing Google's our friend," Trina Robinson said. "That's how I figured out how many 16.9-ounce of water bottles made a gallon to make our rice and our beans today."

After preparing the food on Tuesday morning, she and her employees stood outside Belknap Elementary School in Beaver to pass out packaged meals to a long line of vehicles.

Dave Long, the school district superintendent, told KSL the free lunches play an important role in the community for people in need.

"It's really important to keep things like this that are a consistent thing in the community that people depend on going during emergencies like this," he said, noting that his food service employees came up with their contingency plan soon after the flooding occurred. "We're a lot of independent people here in Beaver County, but when it comes to emergencies and the time to show up for neighbors, people come out and show up."

It's working, although everyone looks forward to having the water back as soon as possible.

"We hope so," Trina Robinson said. "It'll be easier."

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