School Meal Enrollment Opens Ahead of Upcoming School Year

School nutrition programs are an essential part of students’ lives, local Farm to School programs, and school success. One of the easiest ways to support your school’s nutrition program is by enrolling in free and reduced meals. The 2020-21 form is available here and this tip sheet from Hunger Free Vermont helps walk you through the short, one-page application. 

Many families may be newly eligible for the program due to COVID-19 related changes to their family income. Even if you’ve never applied before, this year is a crucial time for schools looking to balance budgets and maintain progress—submitting the application helps your entire community!  

Food Connects has compiled a School Meals Enrollment hub to help you easily find additional information and know where to send your application once it’s completed. Specific questions should be directed to your school but our team is always happy to help get you connected as well.

Who Feeds Our Kids: Jessica Boucher

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Jessica Boucher

Introducing Jessica Boucher! As a school food service professional, Jessica has fed students in our community for the past two years. She worked at Green Street School during the 2018-2019 school year and at Dummerston School this past school year, until schools closed in March when she joined the team that prepares meals for all the schools at the Academy School kitchen. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work and how things have changed for her this spring. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

“If I could change what people think about ‘lunch ladies,’ I would want them to know that we really care about the kids and that we are here to help the students.”

— Jessica Boucher

Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

Jessica Boucher (JB): It’s very different. I’m working in a different school, and we’re working out of both the kitchen and the gym—cooking and bagging breakfasts, lunches, and dinners every day. I’m working a few more hours than I used to. There is a lot more food going out every day. In Dummerston, I would usually make lunch for about 70 kids. Now we’re feeding over 500 every day! There are a lot of special dietary needs, and I have some new co-workers from other schools.

SH: What has kept you going during these unusual times?

JB: What keeps me going is knowing that there are kids out there that are getting food that they wouldn’t get otherwise. I can’t sit home all day, I need to be busy working, so my work helps keep me sane.

SH: Do you have children at home? 

JB: Yes, I have three children, ages 16, 10, and 11.

SH: How are you managing with child care?

JB: My kids have been home on their own during the day. It’s not going so well, they aren’t doing their work like they should be doing, especially my high schooler. They have figured out how to do chores, though! It’s been a blessing and a curse.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

JB: Remote learning. I come home from work and I go right into getting dinner ready and making sure the kids have done at least some school work and their chores. My stepdaughter is there sometimes too, so that’s 4 kids and they know how to make a mess!

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

JB: They can support us by recognizing us for doing a good job. We’ve always kind of been looked down on as “lunch ladies.” Our age range goes from 22 up into the 60s. When you think about your school lunch lady, you think of an old grouchy lady, and that lunch ladies don’t do a lot but we do a lot of hard work and a lot of what we cook is made from scratch. We have a large amount of cooking and packing to do in such a short amount of time. Everything we cook has to be packed and ready to go by 9:30 am each morning, which takes a lot! If I could change what people think about “lunch ladies,” I would want them to know that we really care about the kids and that we are here to help the students. It’s been hard not having the kids around, we’re used to seeing them all the time and we miss them! I’ve gotten to know a lot of kids. I know some of them come from difficult backgrounds and I’m worried about them. As a lunch lady, sometimes I feel like I’m a counselor too. The kids open up to me sometimes and tell me about being bullied by other kids or problems they have at home. I tell kids that if they don’t feel safe, they need to tell someone. When a kid tells me about a problem, I let the office know. I feel like we’re easier to talk to because we’re not teachers, we’re the lunch ladies and we sneak them extra tater tots and stuff and they like that. We’re part of the team of people that helps kids feel safe in the school.

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in this career?

JB: If you’re interested, go for it! It’s not a job that’s going to pay all your bills, so if you are struggling and it’s your only source of income it’s probably not the best job for you. It’s a rewarding job with little pay, much like many other jobs. I myself have been nicer to my kids just seeing how hard it is for some of the kids in the schools where I work. I like the schedule, but all the vacations can be hard because you aren’t paid during that time. You can get unemployment during the vacations, but it’s a lot of hassle to get that set up.

SH: What brings you joy? 

JB: Seeing smiling kids, happy kids, and when the kids tell me they like the food and how good of a job I’m doing. 

SH: What is one thing you are grateful for?

JB: I’m grateful that I have a job, that I wasn’t laid off. I’m grateful for my community for stepping up and helping out and volunteering to help us get the food out to these kids.

Who Feeds Our Kids: Linda Griffin

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Linda Griffin

Linda Griffin has worked in school food service for the past 3 to 4 years. She is trained to work at Oak Grove School, Green Street School, and Academy School. She drives the food delivery van between these three schools so she is at each school every day. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work and how things have changed for her this spring. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

“I got to know kids in every single school because I got to work at every one of them. When I go out sometimes I see a kid and he’ll say, ‘Hey mom, I know her, she’s the lunch lady!’”

— Linda Griffin

Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

Linda Griffin (LG): I’m not driving the delivery van anymore which I like because the loading and unloading is a lot of heavy lifting which hurts my back. What we’re doing now with packing food for the bus delivery is also a lot of heavy lifting and I don’t think I could do both. 

In the kitchen, we’re preparing similar food, but the quantities are a lot more and we’re doing it in the same amount of time. We’re providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner now. When we took on doing dinners that made it a little more stressful but now that we’ve been doing them a while we’ve got our systems down. We weren’t sure we could pull it off in the same amount of time that we were doing breakfast and lunch, but we’ve got it figured out now so it’s fine.

SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?

LG: It keeps me going to have something to do every day when I wake up in the morning, someplace to go. I don’t know if I could have handled this sitting at home doing nothing and not being able to see my kids or my grandkids. I’m not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing. Having this job has definitely saved me from going stir crazy.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

LG: My biggest challenge has been not seeing my family. My grandkids came over last weekend and it’s the first time I've seen them since this started. It was so nice! We sat outside and chatted about “old times.” It was funny, they aren’t little kids anymore, but it’s not like you would think they’d be sitting around talking about what we used to do, but they were.

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

LG: The community can support us by volunteering and helping out, and by saying thank you for what we do. That means a lot.

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school food service?

LG: Absolutely do it! It’s fun. We have a great time! It’s busy, you’ve got something to do every minute so the day goes by fast and we have fun. We talk, we play the radio. When school’s in session you get to see the kids and that’s really nice. I got to know kids in every single school because I got to work at every one of them. When I go out sometimes I see a kid and he’ll say, “Hey mom, I know her, she’s the lunch lady!”

SH: What brings you joy?

LG: My kids, my family, and getting up and being able to go to work every day.

SH: What are you grateful for?

LG: I’m grateful for having a job, my family, my kids, my friends, the school, and working with the kids. I like people!

School meals continue through the summer: WSESU looking for volunteers to help with the effort

The Vermont Summer Food Service Program kicked off on June 22. For school kitchens throughout the state, that means continuing serving thousands of meals a week to their communities’ children. In the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU), they can’t do it alone. While school staff are the backbone of the operation, the program can’t operate without volunteers helping with food preparation and working at the distribution sites.

“I am grateful and in awe of all of our volunteers and can not thank them enough for ensuring our students get the nutrition they need to thrive,” said Ali West, Brattleboro Town Schools Food Service Director, Fresh Picks Cafe. “Many of our regular volunteers from the school year are taking a much-deserved break, meaning we have lots of volunteer slots to fill in the coming weeks.”

Shifts range from 30 minutes at distribution sites to 3-hour shifts helping with food prep. If you’d like to help—whether it be weekly or just a few times throughout the summer—you can sign up online at https://bit.ly/2Nu4RZB.    

For families looking to sign up their kids for meals, please complete this form: https://bit.ly/3dAGHqM. Meals are available to every child 18 years and younger for free. 

Who Feeds Our Kids: Kerri Harlow

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Kerri Harlow

For 12 years Kerri Harlow has worked in school food service at Putney Central School (PCS). Before she was in food service she worked as a paraeducator at PCS for 10 years in the 1990’s. And this month, she is retiring. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work, how things have changed in her work since COVID-19, and some of the things she loves about her job. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

“It keeps me going to think about the children and know that we are still impacting their lives even though we’re not seeing them. I know that there are so many people that are totally dependent on 2 school meals a day for their children and it’s rewarding to help.”

— Kerri Harlow

Kerri Harlow (KH): For the first 3 weeks I continued to work all the hours that were needed to get the lunches out. Then, as the COVID cases got closer because my husband and I are both considered high risk (especially my husband) for a while I couldn’t come in to work at all. When things started opening up I began coming back in the afternoon every day and preparing food for the next day.  The worst part for me is to be in the building and have it be totally empty. It seems very odd. Not seeing the kids is very hard. We try not to always make sandwiches and brown bag lunches, so what we’re cooking hasn’t changed that much, it’s how we distribute it that has changed.

SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?

KH: It keeps me going to think about the children and know that we are still impacting their lives even though we’re not seeing them. I know that there are so many people that are totally dependent on 2 school meals a day for their children and it’s rewarding to help. Everyone receiving the meals has been so wonderful! We get emails and pictures of the children with their food, and one woman sent us a picture when we sent food for the entire week during April break. The picture was of her 2 children and her refrigerator that was packed and organized with the whole week's lunches and breakfasts. Knowing how much people have appreciated the meals and the fact that they are showing their appreciation with what they can, mainly with a note here or there has meant a lot.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

KH: As far as school goes, it’s been challenging to feel like I am contributing enough because I have had to stay home for part of the time. It was hard for me to feel like I was doing my share, so I’m very happy to be back now, in the afternoons. I just made it my mission to put little gifts in the bags every Friday for the kids. It’s been the worst thing, not being at work when I know I’m supposed to be. Sometimes you come to work and you think, oh I wish I could stay home today, but then when it happens it’s not fun and you realize how much being at work really means.

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

KH: We’ve had a wonderful response from the staff members who are coming in and helping. This came about so quickly and we’ve never done this before, but it’s gone much more smoothly than I would have thought it would. I worry about next year. I wonder what's going to happen and how it's all going to come together. I wonder how long people can keep this going because it’s hard. As far as the community, they’ve done all that they can, and it definitely has been enough. Everyone has come together. It’s got to be done so we’re doing it!

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school food service?

KH: It is the most rewarding job I’ve ever had. It’s not easy at times, but since COVID-19, I have a whole new appreciation of the job. If someone has children in the school or in the district, it’s a great job because you have the same schedule as your children. When I was here as a paraeducator for 10 years in the 1990’s my children were in school here, and when I came back 12 years ago I was taking care of my granddaughter and she was in school here. It’s fantastic because the pressure is reduced as a working parent. The school understands when your child is sick and you have to stay home. Having the school vacations and snow days is great peace of mind. Working with the kids is wonderful. You get so close to them, handing them their meals every day. You wouldn’t think it would be enough time to connect with them but you do. It’s very, very rewarding and great to spend that much time with children.

SH: What brings you joy?

KH: My family and my work, and I love to do all different types of crafts. I’m retiring this year, and I can’t wait to come back as a volunteer. It’s not a job that you walk away from easily. I’m such good friends with everyone in the building, so I realized that if I volunteer I can have more one on one time with the kids. I love interacting with the kids and I’m looking forward to that when I come back as a volunteer. I love working with children. I had a home daycare, I was a para, and then I have been a cook here. Everything I’ve done for work has been child-oriented.

SH: What are you grateful for?

KH: I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work here twice when it was the perfect fit for my family. I’m very grateful for all the people here that I’ve met, some of whom have been friends since I worked here back in the 1990’s. I am extremely grateful for the insurance that the school provides. I didn’t have that as a paraeducator or when I worked here with a food service company, but when our meal program became independent the school put us on their insurance which was amazing. I’m very grateful to have had this job and have had it work so well. It’s been really, really wonderful. Seeing the kitchen change to an independent food service while I’ve been here was amazing, and Food Connects’ staff Helen, Katherine, and Richard were so wonderful. It is something I loved that happened while I was working here! It was very good for the school and we have such support from the community for the food program and I’m very grateful for that also.

SH: Final thoughts?

KH: I'm retiring at the end of this year and it’s going to be very, very hard to leave. It’s been a fantastic job. The closer retirement gets, I think, “what am I doing?” but it’s time to move on, and by no means am I walking away from this building. They will probably get sick of me! It’s been a fantastic job. I broke my shoulder this winter and I was out of work for 2 months. I was just starting to come back when the school closure happened. All of the kids made me cards and the staff made me food and I had all these special things I was going to do for each classroom when I came back but I couldn’t do any of it because of the school closure. I’m looking forward to making good on my intention to pay it forward when I come back as a volunteer. 

Addendum: We learned after this interview that Kerri is an incredible baker and she is making individual graduation cakes (yes, a whole cake!) for all of the 8th graders.

Who Feeds Our Kids: Jill Harnish

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Jill Harnish

Jill Harnish has worked in school food service in our community for the past 11 years. She worked at Putney Central for her first 5 years, and now she’s in her 6th year working in Brattleboro, currently at Oak Grove School. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work and how things have changed for her this spring. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

Shelia Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

“Please help out by volunteering when you can. We couldn’t do this without the volunteers, it would be too much. Volunteers are a big help to us!
”

— Jill Harnish

Jill Harnish (JH): My work is completely different. Instead of my usual routine of making food in the kitchen at Oak Grove for a smaller number of kids and focusing on preparing the hot lunch of the day, now I’m making A LOT of lunches and dinners. It’s a little like doing a bag lunch day for a class field trip, but on a much larger scale. Also, my workplace has changed. Now I’m working in the Academy School kitchen, which is actually closer to my house. Another big change is that I don’t see students during my workday anymore.

SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?

JH: What’s keeping me going is knowing that I’m making meals for the kids who might not otherwise have food and keeping myself busy with my work.

SH: Do you have children at home, and if so, how are you managing with childcare?

JH: It’s hard because my youngest is a senior this year and he’s in special education. He’s got homework to do, so when I leave work I have to go home and help him with his homework because he won’t do it when I’m not there.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

JH: Working more hours than I’m used to has been my biggest challenge. I’m working 1.5-2 hours longer each day and I’m also getting up earlier. Trying to juggle work and responsibilities at home is a little difficult.

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

JH: Please help out by volunteering when you can. We couldn’t do this without the volunteers, it would be too much. Volunteers are a big help to us!

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school food service?

JH: It’s a rewarding job. It’s a nice feeling to feed the children and to get to see them everyday. It’s hard not to see them now. It’s good hours for being a working parent.

SH: What brings you joy?

JH: My kids. Also, my husband and I belong to a church and we cook a meal for the overflow shelter every month. I like feeding people.

SH: What are you grateful for?

JH: I’m grateful that I have my job and I’m grateful for my health.

SH: Final thoughts?

JH: My work is challenging but rewarding!

Cafeterias Unknown: Bellows Falls Union High School Meal Delivery

Food Connects’ Farm to School program is asking many of the same questions as our colleagues in schools—What does remote learning look like for students? How can we continue to support the social and emotional needs of students? What about all the kids who rely on school meals? In the past two months, a collective epiphany swept the country as the importance of school meals came into focus. Despite looking a bit different, our work supporting and championing school meals continues—and so last Wednesday I visited Bellows Falls Union High School to lend a hand and gain a better perspective of what it takes to put out school meals in the era of COVID-19. 

At the school

Bags and boxes lined up for distribution. Meals go out three times at week in the WNESU.

Bags line the facade of the building, stacked on picnic tables, as they wait to load onto buses. There’s a pop-up tent battling the wind by the road—in addition to the bus routes, families can pick up meals themselves at the high school, middle school, or Saxtons River Elementary. Once inside the cafeteria, a bustle of activity greets me as staff and volunteers pack additional bags for pickup and delivery. Like many districts, the backbone labor of Windham Northeast Supervisory Union’s (WNESU) distribution system is teachers, paraeducators, and other school support staff. 

The kitchen is no less busy. Staff are preparing the last of today’s meals and getting ready for the next wave going out on Friday. Just as I start to feel a little lost with no job to do, Harley Sterling (WNESU School Nutrition Director) happily jumps alongside to show me their current set-up and talk about how the new program is going.

Four weeks in, Farm to School Cafe is finally in a groove and things are running smoothly. Harley is excited about a recent contract with the Department for Children and Families to supply breakfast, lunch, and dinner for families staying at a nearby motel. That’s an additional 160 meals a day, more community members served, and slightly more funds to run the program. 

I settle in to help Melissa Bacon (Westminster School Nutrition Manager) pack bags for today's delivery to the motel and talk about how school closure affected her. Westminster School is closed, so Melissa is working out of the high school. Her son, in 3rd grade, and daughter, in 6th, are learning from home. While her daughter took to distance learning pretty quickly, her son still requires quite a bit of guidance. The Farm to School Cafe staff are balancing the responsibility of feeding their communities with the now universal job of home-school teacher.  

On the bus

After finishing off the last of the bags with Melissa, I head out to one of the buses with Harley and Lija Geller (Westminster Afterschool Program Director). Renee, the bus driver, already lined the bags in the seats in order of stops. An incredibly organized system, which only took us minutes to confuse. Luckily Denise, a staff member from Westminster, joined us as well and was a regular on this route. 

Since we had four volunteers on a bus that usually only had two, there was plenty of time to reorganize the lunch bags and for conversation, as we completed the route (Denise had an impressive 75’ X 75’ garden and, by the sounds of it, is a prodigious canner.) Our stops varied—meals were left on front porches, handed off to groups of cars waiting at the ends of dirt roads, and relayed to one student driving a three-wheeler. 

As we drove, the conversation turned to increasing meal participation numbers. Meals are currently free to any child 18 or under—they don’t need to be a student at WNESU, there’s no income cap, and all you need to do to enroll is fill out a quick Google Form. While many families rely on the meals to feed their kids, you do not need to be in dire economic straits to receive meals nor will your participation preclude other families from participating. 

All school meal programs are operating under the Summer Food Service Program rules, meaning the reimbursement rate they receive from the federal government is slightly higher. This, in turn, helps shore up school budgets in a time of increased uncertainty. Whether you sign up for meals because it’s one less thing you need to worry about or it's something familiar for your kids, all districts want you to enroll. 

Bus rules to live by.

After just over an hour, we bumped along the access road into the high school parking lot with all 60 bags distributed. It was right around 11 and cars continued to roll up to the to-go tent (which was miraculously still standing). Inside, things were winding down and thoughts turned to Friday when the next round of deliveries would go out. Harley and his team are ready to keep this up for as long as it is needed—it may look a little different, but the work continues.  

Questions about accessing school meals? Want to share your experience with school meals during coronavirus? Email us at farmtoschool@foodconnects.org.

The Food Team: A Community Collaboration to Address Hunger

As Brattleboro Town Food Service Director Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe fielded phone calls from families throughout Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) to sign their children up for school meals in the early days of COVID-19 school closures, she was often heartbroken as people reached out to her. Many shared that they were in desperate situations and did not have enough food, not only for their children during the school day but also for their entire family.

"I wondered what could be done to meet the needs for families," thought Ali West. "The regular school meals programs were not enough to feed entire families. So I reached out to Food Connects for guidance."

Conor Floyd, Farm to School Manager at Food Connects, represents area schools at the Windham Region Hunger Council and has strong relationships with school meal programs, area food shelves, and the Vermont Foodbank.

On a Hunger Council call a couple of weeks into the crisis, Christine Colascione, of Foodworks, shared that she saw a rapid increase in need across the community. Zach Hebert, of the Vermont Foodbank, led the coordination efforts between food shelves and relayed that information to his colleagues and secured more resources for food relief in Windham County. 

In Brattleboro, there is a strong network for anti-hunger organizations that provides relief to families. Organized through the Hunger Council, the network collaborates to best meet the growing food security needs of our community. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the group knew that they were not reaching all the families in need. This was particularly on the mind of Christine, who focused on creating more trauma-informed services at Foodworks after attending a Trauma and Food workshop led by Equity Solutions.  

"Many people are needing help for the first time,” noted Christine. “Navigating the charitable food system can be difficult for many—either knowing who to call or the stigma associated with accessing help.”

On a Hunger Council call, Sheila Humphreys of Food Connects wondered about the needs that families were communicating with Ali, and whether these families were being served by Foodworks or if they were falling through the cracks. Out of those questions, an idea began to take shape. Could Foodworks and the WSESU meal program work together to determine which families were not already receiving regular food deliveries from Foodworks, and launch a new, collaborative program to deliver food to these families through the school meal program delivery system?

Within a week, a new “Food Team” was formed with staff from WSESU Food Service, Foodworks, Food Connects, and the Vermont Foodbank, and they quickly came up with a plan. Using Foodworks’ existing account with the Foodbank, and with additional grant funding supplied by the Foodbank, Christine launched a new delivery program to families, managed and distributed by Ali via the Academy School meal site. “We are so happy to be part of this collaboration with the schools because this way, many people who wouldn't otherwise be helped, are able to get the food they need,” Christine remarked. “People are already familiar with the school system making it an easy access point, and using the busses is such an excellent and efficient way to deliver food."

For the first week of the program, staff from Foodworks, Food Connects, the Foodbank, and Fresh Picks unloaded the truck themselves to get a sense of the time and labor required.

Staff from Food Connects provided coordination and support services to launch this program, including muscle to move 4 pallets of shelf-stable food from the Foodworks truck into the school. Week 1 was a success! The Food Team met and refined delivery and ordering systems further, and decided to look for volunteers to help with the heavy lifting to get the food off the truck.  

The food boxes line the halls of Academy School, waiting to be loaded on buses for distribution.

WSESD is running two buses solely for food box distribution. Filled to the brim, they trundle about the district, delivering boxes to doorsteps.

Conor reached out to Assistant Fire Chief, Leonard Howard, for support. Not only was Leonard on board but he brought the request to a town staff meeting. From this, a new partnership was born with the town, where staff from Brattleboro Fire, Police, Highway, and Recreation and Parks signed up for a weekly shift to unload the truck. On the second Wednesday of the program, town staff had the truck unloaded in record time!

Fire, Police, Rec and Parks, and the Highway Dept came out in force to unload the delivery in record time.

After unloading the truck, part of the Food Team posed for a socially distant group photo.

As the program evolves, hiccups continue to occur, from working out the details of weekly distribution to communicating with families. But, the program is already providing much-needed support to families. In a recent conversation with Ali, she mentioned that “I heard from one family that said receiving the boxes has been such a relief, especially as they have 5 kids at home and one of the parents had been laid off! Many more have expressed gratitude and appreciation to the counselors that they are in contact with.”

This story is not only uplifting but serves as a model for how to create successful community collaborations. So, how did it happen?

Start with existing connections. The Windham Region Hunger Council, a decade-long collaboration, actively served our community before the crisis hit. The group already established norms and relationships with one another, allowing for a seamless transition to remote collaboration and an immediate platform for broad information sharing. 

Additionally, Food Connects had strong working relationships with Foodworks and the Foodbank—thanks to the community of practice group focused on trauma and nutrition which formed after the Equity Solutions training. This created a space for each organization to feel comfortable stepping into unknown territory as the new collaboration was formed.

Food Connects’ well-established Farm to School program supports WSESU schools and foodservice programs. Food Connects nurtured and developed those relationships to create strong partnerships with open lines of communication with the schools as well.

Identify key action teams. Large, regional collaborations are essential in spreading information and gaining a comprehensive understanding of the situation but they make quick action difficult. On the first Hunger Council response call, the group identified lead coordinators for the schools, food shelves, volunteers, and communications. 

Through this structure, Conor pulled together a smaller group of essential organizations to address the need Ali experienced at the schools. While keeping the Hunger Council informed, this group could then act quickly to put a new set of systems in place and ensure the food got out quickly and efficiently. 

Leverage existing resources. After identifying the problem and those best positioned to address it, the Food Team took stock of the resources at hand. The schools had the volunteers to pack the food and buses to deliver it. Whereas Foodworks had some additional ordering capacity via the Foodbank and a box truck to get the food to Academy School but lacked the home delivery infrastructure to cover an additional 130 families a week. With this information, the team created a new supply chain with the resources already at their disposal. 

Think about sustainability. The charitable food system relies on community funding and volunteer support. It was crucial to utilize existing systems in new ways to be able to address this need. By capitalizing on Foodworks' relationship with the Foodbank and the school’s connection with families and delivery network, the group ensured that this wasn’t a 180° pivot, but a reimagining of the services each organization already provided. 

Once there was proof of concept, the next thought was how to ensure this new program could exist for months into the future. The town’s on-going support unloading deliveries on Wednesday was the final piece to the puzzle and ensured the additional task didn’t fall to the district’s volunteers.

And what is the result of all this? A consistent source of additional food relief for 130 families in our community and more resilient organizational relationships for when the need arises again. This project is a model for the ways that community organizations can partner with schools and municipal staff to meet the needs of vulnerable populations in a time of crisis.

Food Connects is grateful of everyone who helped make this collaboration happen: Ali West and the incredible staff of Fresh Picks Cafe; Zach Hebert of the VT Foodbank; Christine Colascione and Ava Howard of Foodworks; Jon Sessions of Academy School; Leonard Howard of the Fire Department; the staff of the Fire Department, Police Department, Highway Department, and Recreation and Parks; and the Windham Region Hunger Council. It truly takes a village. 

On Air: Feeding Children—Call to Action

Our Farm to School Program Manager, Conor Floyd, joined Peter ‘Fish’ Case on Call to Action to discuss how Food Connects and schools are partnering to feed students during the uncertain times of COVID-19. Listen now!