ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) – Parents of Grisham Middle School in Round Rock came together to fundraise over $9,000 to create an outdoor café.  

Parents were concerned about kids eating indoors without masks on as in-person classes resumed during Texas’ current COVID-19 outbreak.

Their solution was to transform the school’s blacktop area into an outdoor seating café that can safely seat 80-100 students during lunch, allowing for more social distancing to occur within the cafeteria.

The outdoor café now features twenty 8-foot-long picnic tables, each of which can accommodate four students. Each table also includes a table-top umbrella to provide some much-needed shade from the hot Texas sun.  

“I’m so proud of our community coming together, and answering the call, and being empowered to do something so special, and so simple, but so powerful for our school,” said Principal Amanda Serna.  

The middle school celebrated their new picnic tables on Friday, by bringing in a DJ for a little fun during lunch time.