East LA parochial school keeps busy thanks to free lunch program
By 9 a.m. on a recent Friday, the line of mostly young mothers already stretched for a block down the sidewalk along the chain-link fence that separates Our Lady of Guadalupe School from Hazard Avenue. Nancy Figueroa, principal of the parish school in East LA, was talking to them in Spanish.
Today, not even the blue mask on her face could contain the administrator’s enthusiasm as she made sure to catch up on how their families were doing.
Slowly but surely, the women made their way to the partly open front metal gate to the table blocking the entrance to the schoolyard. A woman in a floppy brim hat and green T-shirt with the elementary school’s logo greeted them, asking how many meals they needed for their children.