Looking for BTDT advice... feeding the hungry...

[lovinmomma]

I live in an absolute craptastic neighborhood. However, over the years I've gotten to know many of the families which makes it not the worst place to live ever. :)

 

On Friday, I hosted a neighborhood flashlight tag party. Our neighborhood is FILLED with kids. I've never seen so many kids on one block. I'm guessing probably 30 kids came to the party, and so many weren't able to make it. My mom offered to buy a few snacks, and I went to Aldis's and bought a few bags of chips and some juice boxes. 95% of the kids came without parents (typical) and most were very hungry. Yes, kids can act like their parents never feed them even after having just eaten a 5 course meal. I realize that, and have experienced it myself with my own children. I don't believe that's the case here.

 

Many of the children's parents are absent, drug addicts, gone working, etc. and the kids are left to play outside in the neighborhood basically any time they're not in school. FYI- I'm not saying that spending the majority of a child's time outside is a negative. Anyways, my point is that I would really like to help these kids in some way. The kids already look to me for "mothering" and it's pretty much guaranteed that we'll have a group of kids in our yard at all times that school is not in session. I'm wondering how possible it would be to feed them at the neighborhood park 1x per week??? Maybe have some activities to play with them? I can't personally afford it. My gas is currently shut off due to my inability to afford my OWN bills, but maybe I could volunteer at a food bank or something to get something to help these kids? Has anyone ever done something similar?

[Rosie_0801]

You'd better look up food handling laws in your area before you launch into any grand scale project.

 

Do you have a front yard to grow food in? No one needs food handling certifications to give away beans and tomato seedlings.

[hmvaughan4]

We have a program during the summer that sounds similar to what youre attempting. It's held weekly and is sponsored by a local business or church. Lunches range from pb&j, lunchmeat, happy meals, and pizza. Sometimes, there is a special program (dental health talk when sponsored by the dentists office, etc.). The kids get a free book as they go through the line as well. It has turned into a huge program for our county.

[Catwoman]

I don't mean to discourage you, but I strongly believe that paying your own bills needs to be your priority right now. It's wonderful to show kindness to the neighborhood children, but it takes time to do things like volunteering at food banks, and that time may be far better spent trying to earn a bit of extra money to help support your own family.

 

I think it's very sweet of you to have such concern for others, though.

[myfunnybunch]

I would work on coordinating something with a local church & food bank. Our church started a food program to cover school breaks and holidays. We partnered with the school, community organization and food bank. The program had grown to the point that many area schools are involved in similar programs, but it all started as a small idea and a partnership between community organizations. :) Go for it!

[lovinmomma]

You'd better look up food handling laws in your area before you launch into any grand scale project.

 

Do you have a front yard to grow food in? No one needs food handling certifications to give away beans and tomato seedlings.

 

That thought had crossed my mind. I'll have to check out the laws first! Thanks.

 

We have a program during the summer that sounds similar to what youre attempting. It's held weekly and is sponsored by a local business or church. Lunches range from pb&j, lunchmeat, happy meals, and pizza. Sometimes, there is a special program (dental health talk when sponsored by the dentists office, etc.). The kids get a free book as they go through the line as well. It has turned into a huge program for our county.

 

That's along the lines of what I was thinking. I'm thinking mostly along the lines of PB&J. Something filling, but cheap/easy/no cooking involved.

 

I don't mean to discourage you, but I strongly believe that paying your own bills needs to be your priority right now. It's wonderful to show kindness to the neighborhood children, but it takes time to do things like volunteering at food banks, and that time may be far better spent trying to earn a bit of extra money to help support your own family.

 

I think it's very sweet of you to have such concern for others, though.

 

Thank you. I work as much as I possibly can while still being able to see my children, and be a parent to them. Have you seen this?: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/06/friends-mourn-new-jersey-woman-who-died-napping-in-between-one-three-jobs/ The time that I would spend serving would be my free time that I spend with my children. It would be a family ordeal. :) My bills are important, but I refuse to be a person that can't give to others because I'm so focused on my own problems. My income situation isn't changing any time soon. At least not until I'm done with nursing school. I do appreciate and understand your concern, though. Thank you.

 

I would work on coordinating something with a local church & food bank. Our church started a food program to cover school breaks and holidays. We partnered with the school, community organization and food bank. The program had grown to the point that many area schools are involved in similar programs, but it all started as a small idea and a partnership between community organizations. :) Go for it!

 

That sounds like a great idea! There's actually a very large chruch directly behind this neighborhood. Maybe they would be interested in helping!

[Lisbeth]

I agree that I would put the needs of my kids to have amenities first. Their parents (the neighbors) need to provide or the kids need to be with people who can. I admire your generous spirit, but your own kids have basic necessity needs. Just my opinion! I am not very pro enabling people to be bums, but when kids are in the mix, it gets complicated. Who wants to see kids suffer?

Whatever is fed, grows. In this case, we want the kids to grow, but not bummy parental behavior. Complicated!

[lovinmomma]

I agree that I would put the needs of my kids to have amenities first. Their parents (the neighbors) need to provide or the kids need to be with people who can. I admire your generous spirit, but your own kids have basic necessity needs. Just my opinion! I am not very pro enabling people to be bums, but when kids are in the mix, it gets complicated. Who wants to see kids suffer?

Whatever is fed, grows. In this case, we want the kids to grow, but not bummy parental behavior. Complicated!

 

I'm certainly not considering paying for it out of my pocket in my current financial situation. That would be irresponsible of me. However, I have no problem stepping in where it's needed in a physical sense when we're discussing children who are needing a role model. Which, I believe, is realtively the same thing you're saying. :)

[Um_2_4]

You'd better look up food handling laws in your area before you launch into any grand scale project.

 

 

 

 

:iagree:

I work with a non-profit and we looked into something similar (for anyone, not just kids) and let's say the requirements to give away food (even irregularly, like not even at an advertised event just when someone stopped at the center and was hungry) were staggering! Sad to say, but it would have cost us thousands (like $10k+, plus space we do not have) just to set up proper storage to give away pre-packaged individual sized servings (nothing made on site).

 

Maybe see if the local school has that free lunch in the summer and do a "meet up" on the days you can to all eat lunch there?

Or that backpack program that sends home food for kids (does it run in the summer, I thought so)?

Is there a neighborhood library that might host something in the parking lot if an organization donated food?

 

ETA (hit enter on accident):

 

Now that is different than you being known as "the PB lady" in the neighborhood and the kids know they can pop over for a sandwich when they are hungry.

But I think without a 501c3 (federal non profit status) you will have a hard time getting donations iykwim.

Even with that, many companies have changed how they do donations since I started working with a non-profit 20 years ago. Used to be store managers would tell me to pick out $25-50 worth of product when I stopped in and asked for help with a project (kid's fair or the like), nowadays many say "talk to corporate" for EVERYTHING (even a case of water). Maybe you have some local small businesses that would help out? Might be easier than big chain stores.

 

[AimeeM]

I would do as some others have suggested.

 

1) Call your local Catholic church and explain the situation. I'm not familiar with the other denominations, but often Catholic churches have more resources than others, because even (actually, especially) when they are in a poor area, they have some access to additional funds through their diocese or otherwise. Most of them also run a program called the St. Vincent de Paul Society (which, additional perk, may be able to help you with your gas bill!).

 

2) Contact a large grocery store in the area (or right outside the area) and ask if there would be any day of the week that they may be getting rid of "almost bad" food (produce specifically, and meat, as meat can be frozen to buy "good time" for it). 

 

3) Check your local handling laws. You may not be able to serve food, on a mass scale, in public (like at a park or something) to the "general public". I know that our state is so strict that one can't even sell baked goods cooked in their own kitchen, unless they have a separate kitchen used for the sold baked goods, and pass inspections. 

[AimeeM]

 

 

 

Now that is different than you being known as "the PB lady" in the neighborhood and the kids know they can pop over for a sandwich when they are hungry.

But I think without a 501c3 (federal non profit status) you will have a hard time getting donations iykwim.

Even with that, many companies have changed how they do donations since I started working with a non-profit 20 years ago. Used to be store managers would tell me to pick out $25-50 worth of product when I stopped in and asked for help with a project (kid's fair or the like), nowadays many say "talk to corporate" for EVERYTHING (even a case of water). Maybe you have some local small businesses that would help out? Might be easier than big chain stores.

OP, do you maybe know some INDIVIDUALS who would donate to your PB&J/fresh produce cause?

I think Um is right, and you may have a hard time with large donations from companies, but I know that, personally, if I knew (really KNEW) somebody in your situation, who would use it for the good of others, and lived close by for easy drop-off, I would be thrilled to stock up on my Costco trips and donate bulk supplies of pasta, sauce, bread, peanut butter, and produce for the neighborhood "PB&J lady" ;)

Due to our local handling laws, and that we do not live in an area/neighborhood with a local immediate need, I'm not able to personally do such things easily, so the best *I* can do right now is donate to our local food pantries (and I'm terrible about remembering drop off, as our church parish isn't very close by, so I always forget to drop it).

[City Mouse]

Check out the website Feeding America dot org

They have some information about mobile food pantries. That sounds like what you might be looking for.

[mamaraby]

Maybe look into the structure of something like Food Not Bombs. Maybe there's a local group that you could get some ideas from? I know they get food from bakeries/grocery stores/restaurants and stick with vegan/vegetarian to help cut down on risk.

 

Since you have a yard full of kids often, maybe being the "pb&j lady" would be a good place to start. If you have friends/family who might be interested in helping to stock your supplies then it's just the neighbor lady sharing and not a large scale kind of general public thing and it might help you grow from there.

[momto10blessings]

You're awesome!!

Canned spaghetti sauce and noodles would be really cheap and maybe you could get somewhere to donate bread. Serve it out of your front yard one night a week.

Maybe you could ask a church for food donations?

 

Eta: sorry, not btdt advice like you asked for...

[AimeeM]

You're awesome!!

Canned spaghetti sauce and noodles would be really cheap and maybe you could get somewhere to donate bread. Serve it out of your front yard one night a week.

Maybe you could ask a church for food donations?

 

Eta: sorry, not btdt advice like you asked for...

Yep. Nothing illegal about a block party, no matter your state handling rules :)

[Um_2_4]

Yep. Nothing illegal about a block party, no matter your state handling rules :)

 

Actually please check if you plan on advertising, some cities require permits. I don't want you to get tickets or the like. But if everyone knows, hey we can eat at Mrs X's house on Thursday night (without publishing it to the public) then that is different and just a mom inviting her kid's friends over for dinner. 

 

Basically anytime you advertise or set it up as an "open to the public" event, you may run into permits/regulations, etc.

 

(This is all just based on my experience with non-profits and trying to set things up in a neighborhood I volunteered in. Please do check with your city/county or just keep it personal,meaning just a mom inviting kid's friends for dinner and maybe people you know could help donate food for you to serve. I actually found that cities with lower income populations sometimes had more strict regulations than some cities with higher income populations, it was very frustrating.)

[AimeeM]

Actually please check if you plan on advertising, some cities require permits. I don't want you to get tickets or the like. But if everyone knows, hey we can eat at Mrs X's house on Thursday night (without publishing it to the public) then that is different and just a mom inviting her kid's friends over for dinner. 

 

Basically anytime you advertise or set it up as an "open to the public" event, you may run into permits/regulations, etc.

 

(This is all just based on my experience with non-profits and trying to set things up in a neighborhood I volunteered in. Please do check with your city/county or just keep it personal,meaning just a mom inviting kid's friends for dinner and maybe people you know could help donate food for you to serve. I actually found that cities with lower income populations sometimes had more strict regulations than some cities with higher income populations, it was very frustrating.)

I agree that she should check. In my subdivision, however, there has never been "public" advertising - just word of mouth that a block party is taking place at such and such time, and at such and such house, for whatever event (just a dinner party, or a Halloween party, for the neighborhood, etc).

 

I can't think of any place (of course I could be mistaken) that required a permit for a dinner party, birthday party, or holiday gathering - or even just a neighborhood "back to school" party or otherwise, kwim?

[Lady Marmalade]

I think a regularly scheduled neighborhood "feeding" could have unintended consequences of the negative variety.  I could totally see old neighbors of ours taking advantage of the kindness and making poor choices because of it.  Along the lines of "since there is a neighborhood spaghetti dinner Saturday night, the kids can skip lunch that day and pig out on spaghetti, and since that means I won't have to buy any groceries for that day, that's a little more I can spend on some extra pot to play with while the kids are gone at the park eating spaghetti."

 

 I can see your heart, and see that you have only the best intentions of making sure these children are not hungry, but I think you would be better served by being that PB&J Mom.  That mom who, when dinner time comes around and you call your kids in, notices a group of siblings kind of hanging around with "that look", and asks them it their mom is expecting them for dinner, and then invites them to stay when all they do is shrug.  

 

I think giving your neighborhood kids a safe house- where they know they can go when they need something would mean so much more to these kids than a once-a-week meal.

[VeritasMama]

Many school districts have free lung programs during the summer. Ours is open to any child and is served at local parks.

 

Every Catholic Church I've belonged to has also run a food pantry or assisted with a local pantry, so they'd be a good place to start. They'd also have all the information you might need.

[Um_2_4]

Many school districts have free lung programs during the summer. Ours is open to any child and is served at local parks.

 

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

My laugh of the day, thank you!

[Bang!Zoom!]

How many kids are you talking about here?

[Little Nyssa]

Besides food.... I had a friend who lived in a similar neighborhood and organized a neighborhood soccer league for the kids and coached it.

[lovinmomma]

Very helpful information. Thank you!

 

:iagree:

I work with a non-profit and we looked into something similar (for anyone, not just kids) and let's say the requirements to give away food (even irregularly, like not even at an advertised event just when someone stopped at the center and was hungry) were staggering! Sad to say, but it would have cost us thousands (like $10k+, plus space we do not have) just to set up proper storage to give away pre-packaged individual sized servings (nothing made on site).

 

Maybe see if the local school has that free lunch in the summer and do a "meet up" on the days you can to all eat lunch there?

Or that backpack program that sends home food for kids (does it run in the summer, I thought so)?

Is there a neighborhood library that might host something in the parking lot if an organization donated food?

 

ETA (hit enter on accident):

 

Now that is different than you being known as "the PB lady" in the neighborhood and the kids know they can pop over for a sandwich when they are hungry.

But I think without a 501c3 (federal non profit status) you will have a hard time getting donations iykwim.

Even with that, many companies have changed how they do donations since I started working with a non-profit 20 years ago. Used to be store managers would tell me to pick out $25-50 worth of product when I stopped in and asked for help with a project (kid's fair or the like), nowadays many say "talk to corporate" for EVERYTHING (even a case of water). Maybe you have some local small businesses that would help out? Might be easier than big chain stores.

 

[lovinmomma]

Talk to the grocery store mgrs.and any community service organizations, as well as the school district food service mgr. . Here the bread co is donating all the day old bread to the school district. That is used to make sandwiches for anyone who isnt on free lunch and does not have a lunch.several of the retired elderly Lions Club members are donating the pb. I could see you getting something going for the weekends, especially if you have teen helpers to prep.or if the school lunch people will send home bagged sandwiches on Fridays.you might also find a service club at your nursing school that could help. THank you for taking the initiative.

 

Great ideas! Thank you.

 

I would do as some others have suggested.

 

1) Call your local Catholic church and explain the situation. I'm not familiar with the other denominations, but often Catholic churches have more resources than others, because even (actually, especially) when they are in a poor area, they have some access to additional funds through their diocese or otherwise. Most of them also run a program called the St. Vincent de Paul Society (which, additional perk, may be able to help you with your gas bill!).

 

2) Contact a large grocery store in the area (or right outside the area) and ask if there would be any day of the week that they may be getting rid of "almost bad" food (produce specifically, and meat, as meat can be frozen to buy "good time" for it). 

 

3) Check your local handling laws. You may not be able to serve food, on a mass scale, in public (like at a park or something) to the "general public". I know that our state is so strict that one can't even sell baked goods cooked in their own kitchen, unless they have a separate kitchen used for the sold baked goods, and pass inspections. 

 

Great advice. I think I'll be spending some time reasearching the local food handling laws.

 

OP, do you maybe know some INDIVIDUALS who would donate to your PB&J/fresh produce cause?

I think Um is right, and you may have a hard time with large donations from companies, but I know that, personally, if I knew (really KNEW) somebody in your situation, who would use it for the good of others, and lived close by for easy drop-off, I would be thrilled to stock up on my Costco trips and donate bulk supplies of pasta, sauce, bread, peanut butter, and produce for the neighborhood "PB&J lady" ;)

Due to our local handling laws, and that we do not live in an area/neighborhood with a local immediate need, I'm not able to personally do such things easily, so the best *I* can do right now is donate to our local food pantries (and I'm terrible about remembering drop off, as our church parish isn't very close by, so I always forget to drop it).

 

Yes, that's a good point since I'm not a 501c3. My parents have a 501c3... I wonder if I could somehow be a "branch" underneath them....hmmm....

 

Check out the website Feeding America dot org

They have some information about mobile food pantries. That sounds like what you might be looking for.

 

I'll check it out! Thank you!

 

No advice, but youve gotten lots. Good luck with this! Very cool of you :)

 

Thank you!

[lovinmomma]

Maybe look into the structure of something like Food Not Bombs. Maybe there's a local group that you could get some ideas from? I know they get food from bakeries/grocery stores/restaurants and stick with vegan/vegetarian to help cut down on risk.

 

Since you have a yard full of kids often, maybe being the "pb&j lady" would be a good place to start. If you have friends/family who might be interested in helping to stock your supplies then it's just the neighbor lady sharing and not a large scale kind of general public thing and it might help you grow from there.

 

I've never heard of Food Not Bombs. I'll check it out. Otherwise, this thread has really got me thinking about the "pb&j lady" approach. That honestly sounds like the easiest way around the possible roadblocks that I might meet.

 

You're awesome!!

Canned spaghetti sauce and noodles would be really cheap and maybe you could get somewhere to donate bread. Serve it out of your front yard one night a week.

Maybe you could ask a church for food donations?

 

Eta: sorry, not btdt advice like you asked for...

 

I appreciate the advice!!! Thank you. :)

 

Yep. Nothing illegal about a block party, no matter your state handling rules :)

 

Exactly. I think that may be the key here.

 

Actually please check if you plan on advertising, some cities require permits. I don't want you to get tickets or the like. But if everyone knows, hey we can eat at Mrs X's house on Thursday night (without publishing it to the public) then that is different and just a mom inviting her kid's friends over for dinner. 

 

Basically anytime you advertise or set it up as an "open to the public" event, you may run into permits/regulations, etc.

 

(This is all just based on my experience with non-profits and trying to set things up in a neighborhood I volunteered in. Please do check with your city/county or just keep it personal,meaning just a mom inviting kid's friends for dinner and maybe people you know could help donate food for you to serve. I actually found that cities with lower income populations sometimes had more strict regulations than some cities with higher income populations, it was very frustrating.)

 

Thank you! I will check my local laws before I begin anaything. I think the idea of being less formal about it and more just the mom serving up "extra" food sounds like the best plan right now.

 

I agree that she should check. In my subdivision, however, there has never been "public" advertising - just word of mouth that a block party is taking place at such and such time, and at such and such house, for whatever event (just a dinner party, or a Halloween party, for the neighborhood, etc).

 

I can't think of any place (of course I could be mistaken) that required a permit for a dinner party, birthday party, or holiday gathering - or even just a neighborhood "back to school" party or otherwise, kwim?

 

That's true. In fact, I had a friend that recently organized a neighborhood block party in which there was food, and she didn't need permits. I'm sure that it would be different in my situation, though.

[justasque]

... I can see your heart, and see that you have only the best intentions of making sure these children are not hungry, but I think you would be better served by being that PB&J Mom.  That mom who, when dinner time comes around and you call your kids in, notices a group of siblings kind of hanging around with "that look", and asks them it their mom is expecting them for dinner, and then invites them to stay when all they do is shrug.  

 

I think giving your neighborhood kids a safe house- where they know they can go when they need something would mean so much more to these kids than a once-a-week meal.

 

I agree; I think "PBJ mom" is a good place to start, and to work out logistics and finances, before trying something bigger.

 

Here's two articles about a mom who started a food distribution program from her home. She initially had trouble with zoning laws, and was threatened with fines, but the issues were eventually worked out, and now she serves from a nearby park.  She works with the Archdiocese, who donates the food.

 

Article about the zoning issue.

 

Positive follow-up article a year later.

[lovinmomma]

I think a regularly scheduled neighborhood "feeding" could have unintended consequences of the negative variety.  I could totally see old neighbors of ours taking advantage of the kindness and making poor choices because of it.  Along the lines of "since there is a neighborhood spaghetti dinner Saturday night, the kids can skip lunch that day and pig out on spaghetti, and since that means I won't have to buy any groceries for that day, that's a little more I can spend on some extra pot to play with while the kids are gone at the park eating spaghetti."

 

 I can see your heart, and see that you have only the best intentions of making sure these children are not hungry, but I think you would be better served by being that PB&J Mom.  That mom who, when dinner time comes around and you call your kids in, notices a group of siblings kind of hanging around with "that look", and asks them it their mom is expecting them for dinner, and then invites them to stay when all they do is shrug.  

 

I think giving your neighborhood kids a safe house- where they know they can go when they need something would mean so much more to these kids than a once-a-week meal.

 

I completely understand what you're saying here. I'm positive that parents would "use" me. They already do. I can't count the number of times that I've been called in by school staff to take children home that haven't been picked up from school. Poverty is a very strange thing. It often breeds greed. It's very sad to see. The problem still remains, however, regardless of whether or not I help. If I don't help... those kids will still be hungry, and if I DO help... it's still quite possible that they will be hungry. Just at a different time. That said, I think that the food helps to build a relationship between myself and the children that facilitates the children coming to me when they need me. And I really don't want the kids to suffer because their parents can't seem to get it together. Does that make sense?

 

I realize that this comparison is not even remotely on the same playing field, but we had similar situations in Africa. It's hard to know where that line is of helping and when you're actually perpetuating the problem.  

 

I really like the idea of handling this in a more informal "friends over for dinner" type of way. I think that's great advice, and I absolutely agree that a safe house is really what they need. I think that a lot of the kids already know that I'm here for them if they need me, but there are plenty that I'm not as familiar with and I would like to be able to reach them.

[lovinmomma]

Many school districts have free lung programs during the summer. Ours is open to any child and is served at local parks.

 

Every Catholic Church I've belonged to has also run a food pantry or assisted with a local pantry, so they'd be a good place to start. They'd also have all the information you might need.

 

Ours does the lunch program during the summer, too. Having said that, not every school does it and many of these parents don't have vehicles to GET to the free lunch. Or the kids are at home alone while their parents are working, so there's no way for them to go.

 

How many kids are you talking about here?

 

I guess it would depend on how informally I fed the children. If it's just out of my home as the "PB&J lady" then I suppose it would start out small, and grow from there. There's probably 50 kids in very close proximity.... like just on our street. Each side of the duplex seems to have 3-5 kids. so you're talking 6-10 kids per house and there's row after row of them.

 

Besides food.... I had a friend who lived in a similar neighborhood and organized a neighborhood soccer league for the kids and coached it.

 

Great idea! The kids really enjoy playing basketball at the park close by.

[lovinmomma]

I agree; I think "PBJ mom" is a good place to start, and to work out logistics and finances, before trying something bigger.

 

Here's two articles about a mom who started a food distribution program from her home. She initially had trouble with zoning laws, and was threatened with fines, but the issues were eventually worked out, and now she serves from a nearby park.  She works with the Archdiocese, who donates the food.

 

Article about the zoning issue.

 

Positive follow-up article a year later.

 

Thank you!!! I'll check those articles out.

[Orthodox6]

Love your generous heart, I do!

 

I would recap the posts that I have read with the thought that you should not try "to reinvent the wheel."  Research all available neighborhood and city programs already in place.  You could be an "information center" and provide an invaluable resource in that way.

[Rosie_0801]

Could you get funding for a community garden? It's a bit easier to teach kids to grow peas than to fish in an urban environment.

[lovinmomma]

Love your generous heart, I do!

 

I would recap the posts that I have read with the thought that you should not try "to reinvent the wheel."  Research all available neighborhood and city programs already in place.  You could be an "information center" and provide an invaluable resource in that way.

 

Good point. I just got done reading the articles upthread, and I LOVE the idea of organizing a basketball league. We have a basketball court across the street, and many of the kids are coming of an age to where they're starting to cause trouble.

 

Could you get funding for a community garden? It's a bit easier to teach kids to grow peas than to fish in an urban environment.

 

That's a very good question. I'll check that out!

[myfunnybunch]

That sounds like a great idea! There's actually a very large chruch directly behind this neighborhood. Maybe they would be interested in helping!

 

Now that I am not on my phone, I can detail a little more clearly the way our food program started. It's a gap program, intended to provide food for those times that the children do not have access to the food programs, during winter and spring breaks and for two weeks before the park lunch program begins.

 

The church wanted to help the school, and contacted the school. A school volunteer who was also a scout mom caught wind of it, and the scout troop made gathering food donations a community service project. Between the church and the school, 50-some people showed up just to pack the boxes. The neighborhood association got involved in the second round, so more people involved, more food gathered, more boxes packed. From there, the food bank got involved, so there were more volunteers, more food, more churches, and more schools involved. It's become a cooperative effort between several community organizations, and has incorporated as a nonprofit. They won some big prize and a grant and the committee head was flown to Washington D.C. to talk about the program. But it started when a couple people started kicking around an idea.

 

Start here: People want to help hungry kids.

 

I'd come up with a  simple plan, like a meal and an activity in the park for children. Or snack and homework help, or just a simple meal, or whatever it is that you think is do-able and needed. Be clear about your goal and how you think it would work best for your community. Then I'd start making phone calls and telling people about your ideas. It's too big a project for one person to sustain (imo) but if you can get other people and groups on fire by giving them a specific way that they can help fill a particular need and how filling that need will meet their goals within their community, you can create something amazing.

 

I'd contact the community church and offer them the opportunity to become involved in ministering to children in the community by feeding them. It could very well be that they've got a community/service ministry that would dovetail nicely with this kind of project. (Just offering food and support and saying "Hey, our church is right over there," not passing out materials and such or some of the other organizations may not be able to be involved.)

 

I'd contact the city neighborhood services or whatever they call the programs they've got that are focused on building neighborhoods. Right now in our city it's a big trendy deal to build a sense of community within neighborhoods. Block parties and such all over the city. A neighborhood event focused on feeding children and build a positive sense of community is good for cities, and if the city is willing to become involved it makes it a lot easier to deal with permit issues if needed.

 

I'd call the food bank. Food banks want to help feed hungry children. Ask if there's a way to, with the help of other community organizations, expand existing food programs to help cover this specific need.

 

Scout troops need service projects. Police in many communities are looking for ways to have positive interactions with children who may not be hearing "The police are our helpers!" at home. (In our community, they put on a very low-cost summer camp in the most challenging neighborhood. A little boy came tearing across the park a few weeks ago to shout to his mom, "That policeman over there on his bike was my camp counselor!") Neighborhood organizations and any involved neighbors have an interest in building the neighborhood too, even in crummy neighborhoods. Clearly, you are an example of someone who isn't letting your neighborhood stop you from getting involved, and maybe you can find more people who have a little time and energy to put into making your corner of the world a better place.

 

Hugs. Even if this idea doesn't pan out, I want to thank you for caring so much about the kids in your community. Flashlight tag and snacks? AWESOME. Who knows if a child's life is changing just because they can see that someone cares about their lives. :)

 

Cat