Laura in Marietta

Preparing lunch!

The new food pyramid

Autumn and I working with the kids to make recipe cards

This is Laura checking in from Marietta! Things have been going pretty well at Ely Chapman where I'm doing my service. I have been keeping track of the meals we serve as a part of the Summer Food Service Program. We serve about 600 meals per week. Most of the people who receive the meals are kids attending Ely's Sensational Summer Camp. We really haven't had anyone off the street come in to eat. I think this is one of our biggest challenges at this point. It's important to ensure the kids are being well fed, but I wonder why we don't have anyone off the street. I have done a fair amount of advertising by hanging posters. However, it seems that lower income people who could benefit from programs such as SFSP hear about these programs by word of mouth. This can be quite a challenge as homeless populations are often nomadic and hard to track. I also wonder if there is a strongly perceived need that maybe isn't quite accurate. I would really like to be able to collect more data about the needs in this area. Autumn is currently doing a feasibility study for Harvest of Hope, so I hope this will shed some light on this matter.

The next issue is the actual nature of the food. Amanda (Autumn's and my supervisor) provided a video for us to reflect upon. (http://yesmagazine.org/happiness/school-lunch-is-a-social-justice-issue) The food purchased is USDA certified as "healthy" food. However, most of it is typical cafeteria food, in that it's frozen and then heated up. It's food such as chicken nuggets and pizza. I'm not essentially against these foods, but this article got me thinking about teaching children to feed themselves properly. I feel that more fresh food that doesn't look so mass produced might be beneficial to the children. However, that is a cultural battle. When I broached the subject with the woman in charge of Ely Chapman she said that she preferred to spend money on food the kids are willing to eat. This was a good point. Anywho, I'm babbling but I thought it was good food for thought!
As far as the projects I've been working on, I finished my outreach program (advertising). Autumn and I also worked with two classes to make recipe cards for the food pantry. I have the recipes if anyone working on a similar idea would like them! This coming week we will be measuring the milk the kids waste every day at breakfast and lunch to make them more aware of that issue. Hope everything is going well for everyone!