In the Food For Kids Department, our Kids Cafe and Weekend Bag sites often invite us to attend their events and to distribute information about the services we provide across the food bank.  We distribute  fliers and handouts on Hunger Lifeline, SNAP benefits, Kids Cafe and Weekend Bag, tasty recipes, tour cards, and more.  We provide give-aways and food samples that promote healthy eating and key nutrition messages.

Meleah Boyle, MD Kids Cafe/Weekend Bag Coordinator at the recent Rock Creek Terrace Community Day

Rock Creek Terrace Apartments (part of Edgewood Management Corporation) in Rockville, MD recently held a community day event for their apartment complex and invited us to set up a booth.  Their community center participates in both Kids Cafe and Weekend Bag, serving up to 60 children a day.  We had a wonderful time talking with people – chatting about the programs that their community center has for their children, answering questions about other services, and giving out samples of a delicious black bean salsa recipe that can be made with common Weekend Bag items.

At community events, we have the unique opportunity to talk with people with every type of interest in the food bank – those needing our services, interested in volunteering, wanting to donate, or just wanting to find out who we are.  Community events bring us together with different groups, inspire interest in our mission, and keep us connected with those in need.

The Capital Area Food Bank, along with many other organizations, is spreading the word about free summer meals.  Last Friday, the food bank partnered with Latin America Youth Center to canvass neighborhoods in Capitol Heights and Seat Pleasant, Maryland.  Part of the group also handed out resources at a Mobile Food Pantry distribution.  The teens from LAYC distributed over 1,500 door hangers and fliers, sharing information about how to find summer meals as well as information about SNAP benefits.

Help us make sure that this summer is fun for everyone.  Join us in getting the word out about where kids can eat for free this summer!  Distribute fliers in your community to anyone who has children or works with children who may be at risk of hunger.  Contact Kendra Rowe Salas at rowesalask@capitalareafoodbank.org for additional outreach materials that you can use this summer.  With 200,000 children and teens at risk of hunger in the D.C. metro area, this information is essential!

All photos are shared on the food bank’s Flickr account.

Please continue to join us each weekday this month to follow our story.  We look forward to sharing it with you!

We want to show you what we do! We will share pictures of food packing, menu planning, meal service, bag distribution, our produce initiative, and other activities that demonstrate what the partnership with our sites is all about. Join us during the month of May as we tell the story of these two food programs for kids!

Healthy snack provided by Kids Cafe site

During the meetings, many representatives from the food bank interacted with the site leaders.  Our Nutrition Education Department gathered feedback on the types of programming they are most interested in and the progress of the Snack Box and Kids Cook! programs after one year.  Representatives from Public Policy & Community Outreach shared SNAP resources.  Harvest For Health distributed information about this summer’s Farm Youth Initiative program, and passed out applications to excited site leaders.

The Food For Kids team lead a session on best practices, during which selected site leaders from across the region shared ideas from their individual programs, giving all site leaders the unique opportunity to learn from one another.  Each Kids Cafe Coordinator had a breakout session with their sites, and discussed timely region-specific information.  The Weekend Bag Coordinator received information from sites during a special lunch session.

The forums are a wonderful opportunity to bring together site leaders from across the metro area to share ideas, learn from each other, and receive resources from the food bank.  When asked what they most liked about the Forums, many site leaders echoed the thoughts from one leader who stated, “Giving everyone a chance to talk about their experience.”  We are already looking forward to the next meetings this fall!

We are excited to see the recent focus and energy around childhood hunger.  This urgent issue is being recognized more as a serious issue that we must face together as a nation. Please join us in watching “Child Hunger Ends Here: A Special Report” this Saturday evening, March 19.  This 30-minute in-depth report will focus on the issue of child hunger in America.  Click here for air times.

If you missed it, take a moment to view the “Hard Times Generation: Homeless Kids” segment from 60 Minutes that aired on March 6, 2011. This powerful video illustrates the impact of homelessness and hunger on children.  Hear from children themselves as they share their feelings about their current situations.  Click here to view this segment.

Join us in learning more about the state of our children and what we can do to help.  For more information about what the Capital Area Food Bank is doing to help children in our area, visit our website or come on a tour.

Because so many children in the Washington Metro area rely on the meals distributed at school as a critical part of their health and nutrition, they are often left at risk of hunger over the weekend.  The Weekend Bag Program is intended to fill this gap.  We work with 35 partner sites across the region to provide over 1,710 school-aged children with a bag of groceries to take home for themselves and their families over the weekend. 

Each bag contains 5-7 pounds of shelf-stable food and always consists of at least two kid-friendly snacks and two breakfast items, as well as a meal to supplement the family, which is comprised of a protein, grain, vegetable, and fruit.  A sample menu might include two packs of oatmeal, fruit cocktail, spaghetti noodles, meatballs in tomato sauce, tomatoes, green beans, cereal bar and an applesauce cup.

We sometimes hear that parents are not sure what to do with all the bag’s contents, especially the canned fruits and vegetables.  To help parents with recipe ideas we will be working with our Nutrition Education Department to provide a monthly recipe card in each bag.  The first recipe card was for “chicken pot pie” and our most recent card included “5 ways to use canned corn!” We are hoping that these recipe cards will increase the possibilities of each bag’s contents.

Kids Cafe is distributing over 1,500 fruit bags this December.  Each bag contains apples, oranges, pears and clementines; and makes certain that participants have at least one piece of healthy, fresh produce for each day they are away from school.

The Weekend Bag program increased the contents in each bag this month, adding a few extra items to increase the amount of meals offered in each bag.  Some sites that are closing for the holidays are distributing ‘double bags’ to participants, making sure that kids do not miss a bag because their distribution site is closed.

Thank you to the numerous groups like the Rotary Club of Capitol Hill and individual volunteers that helped us to pack our holiday extras!  Together we have helped make this holiday season brighter for many youth in our community.

Get involved in your local community by assisting in the distribution of non-perishable food to afterschool programs.  Kids Cafe is seeking volunteers for our Northern Virginia warehouse every Tuesday from 1 PM–3:30 PM.  You will be packing food that will go directly to feed hungry kids in your neighborhoods.  Sign up here!

The Kids Cafe program provides food to afterschool and summer programs who serve students at risk of hunger.  These nutritious meals and snacks help keep kids nourished during out-of-school times.

Packing for Kids Cafe sites

 Volunteers are an essential part of the CAFB mission, allowing us to distribute more food to more children and teens every week.  By donating your time you will be making an immediate impact in your local community and will be helping us meet the basic needs of youth at risk of hunger.  This is a great opportunity to make an investment in your community by serving some of its most vulnerable citizens.

We welcome individuals, families, students (children must be 12 or older) and other groups.  For more information please contact Marie Morse or Amy Hendricks at novakidscafe@capitalareafoodbank.org, or sign up here.

Post provided by Jessica Gese, Ambassador Volunteer for the Food For Kids Department

Food banks around the nation offer the BackPack Program (or the Weekend Bag Program at the CAFB), sending children home with a bag or backpack of food for weekend meals.  Currently, there is no Federal funding to offset the cost of providing weekend meals, but the Weekends Without Hunger Act offers much-needed funding to support these programs.

From Feeding America
Weekends Without Hunger

Rep. Dina Titus (NV-3) and Senator Arlen Specter (PA) recently introduced the “Weekends Without Hunger Act” (H.R. 5012/S. 3292). This legislation establishes a 5-year pilot program, beginning in FY 2011, that provides commodities to eligible institutions, such as schools and emergency food providers, to carry out projects that would provide nutritious food to at-risk school children on weekends and during extended school holidays during the school year. Eligible institutions must be located in low-income communities, meaning at least 50% of the children are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals. Each fiscal year a minimum of $10 million in new funding would be provided for the purchase of commodities. An interim and final evaluation would be completed in 2013 and 2015 respectively.  Click here for more information on the Weekend Without Hunger Act.

The risk of hunger during out of school times was recently reported on CNN, featuring our partner organization Frederick Douglass Community Center, which has both a Kids Cafe and Weekend Bag program in operation year-round.

For more information about the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill, including the Weekends Without Hunger Act, visit the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).