KIDS NEED TO EAT, INC.

El Dorado LunchBox: Summer Meals For Kids 2014 Recommendations (9-02-2013)

A. GENERAL For more flexibility, continue to fund the program privately rather than accepting USDA funding. At best we reached 15% of children on the free & reduce rate meals program during the school year (about 1150 children). Budget to distribute 7000 - 8000 lunches in 2014. Expand daily sack lunches to more days Add 3 mobile sites in El Dorado. Discontinue Weekend Foodpacks. Expand daily sack lunches to another area in Butler County - starting with Towanda. Expand the El Dorado LunchBox partnership to include those that were informal partners in 2013, such as BCC, Numana, Inc., Numana Gardens, the First Baptist Church, etc.

B. Expand the daily sack lunch program in the El Dorado area.

Expand the number of daily lunches by adding a Friday distribution (kids take home an extra lunch on Friday for the next day).

C. Add a Mobile LunchBox program.

3 sites (30 mins. at each, including set up time) if use van big enough for 100 lunch sacks. Inquire about using the USD 490 refrigerated trucks., otherwise identify vans we can use. Requires 2 volunteers: A LunchBoxer & an adult volunteer. Need a folding table, clip board, pop up canopy tent for when raining, and plastic bins for goodies. Schedule: Leave Skelly at 11:15 am & return at 1:15 pm. 11:30 - 11:50 McCollum Park noon - 12:30 Forest Park or Lincoln School 12:40 - 1pm Quail Ridge Apts.

D. Discontinue Weekend Foodpacks

Pros: 1. Having 2 programs - daily lunch sacks + Weekend foodpacks - was confusing. 2. Because the daily lunch sack program is open to all children, it eliminates stigma. 3. Adding Friday to the daily sack lunches and sending home an extra lunch on Fridays offers all kids access to more food each week. 4. Adding 3 mobile sites in low income areas will reach more children, including informal day care settings (relatives, neighbors, older siblings). 5. Organizing referrals, screening households, and checking off eligible children each week was very labor intensive. 6. Weekend Foodpacks will be more expensive in 2014 because we wont have access to the Kids Meal boxes (the white boxes) that we acquired for $ .64 in 2013. 7. Discontinuing Weekend Foodpacks would free up volunteers to assist with the daily lunch program. 8. Many local churches have Sunday morning programs for kids that include meals. 9. A meal ministry in El dorado offers free dinners at least 4 - 6 nights a week. Cons: Children who do not attend the summer academy do not have access to any free meals during June. It shuts out children who cant come to a distribution site over the noon hour (e.g., due to parents 1

working and kids in day care).

E. Expand to another area in Butler County. Criteria for prioritizing targeted areas: poverty data, proximity to El Dorado, and community partners in the area. Towanda meets all of these criteria for a partner site. The Kansas Food Bank prefers a centralized partner with various sites (in lieu of multiple separate partners in different sites). F. Strategies to attract more kids to daily lunch program.
See list of barriers to kids coming for daily sack lunches in the 2013 Final Report. Improve marketing of shuttle bus pick up sites & times (see also Buses below) Add a Mobile LunchBox program. Focus on kids in specific low income areas: Visit with managers of mobile home parks and low income housing units re: posters & flyers mailed w/ rent notices, etc. Lawn signs at entrances to low income housing & mobile home parks. BUSES Reconsider bus routes in light of mobile sites, low income pockets, etc. Purchase Take the Bus Here lawn signs to write in bus pick up site & time. Broadly advertise the bus schedule, and that adults can ride bus w/ kids. Include flyers with the bus schedule in every daily sack lunch during the first weeks. Use data from USD 490s new transportation software to target high density low income areas.

G. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

H. Incentives for adults to bring kids.

1. Interview parents to ask what barriers they have, and what incentives that would overcome barriers. 2. Offer weekly drawings for $10 gift cards (Dillons fuel cards, Cinema 6, Dollar Store) 3. Use a point system to qualify for free gifts. 4. Advertise that adults can ride USD 490 Shuttle Bus with their kids. 5. Change locations of Shuttle Bus pick up sites (e.g., McCollum Park, etc.) 6. Offer free diapers and baby food 7. Offer a lunch to adults who come with kids if they want a lunch, too. 8. Promote free books/toys for kids, 9. Offer parenting resources (e.g., parent skills tip cards; flyers w/ online resources). 10. Welcome kids in day care homes (in 2013 we discouraged)

I. Incentives for more children to come for daily lunch program

Childrens Books Day was very popular and merits being continued. Identify a partner (a church, civic group, business, etc.) to take on this component. Expand Food Plus options Free Toy Day (yoyos, Frisbees, play dough, gliders, bubbles, crayons & activity sheets, etc.) Frozen Treat Day on Tuesdays Breakfast Packs on Fridays Healthy Snacking demos Numana meal packages tasting day Breakfast packs on Mondays Adjunct activities & special attractions at Skelly - however, most kids come by car or will get their lunch via the Mobile LunchBox. Examples: sidewalk chalk art soccer on the lawn music on the lawn (e.g., 20 minutes of D.J. or live music) 2

J. Daily Lunch Sacks: logistics

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Use a more centrally located distribution site, such as the old Middle School if USD 490 still owns it. If Skelly is used again, the front entrance on the east would be more visible. Consider changing time to 11:30 am - 12:30 pm to avoid hottest time of day. Instead of or in addition to a second distribution site, add mobile distribution sites Talk with City about traffic light at Lincoln for crossing 6th Ave. Replicate handing out LockerMates the first 5 - 6 weeks & then switch to MealBreaks [for variety]/

K. Daily Lunches: OUTREACH

1. Budget for many more lawn signs + get permission to post at schools, apt complexes, city parks, library, Wal-Mart entrance, YMCA, pre-schools, churches, shopping malls, credit unions, convenience stores. 2. Budget to order more lawn signs to advertise the shuttle bus schedule. 3. Ask The Salvation Army to put a flyer in every bag of groceries it hands out. 4. Ask local thrift stores to put a flyer in every bag of goods purchased by customers. 5. Collaborate w/ VBS programs to advertise meal program via flyers, and we can pass out VBS flyers.

L. Goodies
1. Continue to offer extra foods and goodies with lunches & Foodpacks. 2. Order from the Food Bank if funding is available. 3. If the FBC decides to take on the baby food component, ask local businesses to conduct a food drive for supplemental foods -- either through direct donations of food or collecting money to purchase. 4. Identify food donation sites to collect extra foods donated by the community -- to increase community awareness and participation. M. BABYFOOD 1. Again offer baby food instead of a regular lunch on Mondays & Wednesdays. 2. Free diapers available from the GIV Warehouse. 3. Identify a community partner (a church, civic group or business) willing to be responsible for purchasing and distributing the baby food and diapers. We can provide information re kinds of foods, amounts, and related details. N. NUMANA 1. Add to LunchBoxers job description working at Numana Gardens 9am - 10 am on a rotating basis. 2. Visit with NG in the winter to debrief and discuss 2014. 3. Adopt a schedule that delivers food on a regular basis in order to better schedule cleaning/packing. 4. Re meal packages: add to cooking instructions suggestions about ingredients to add for variety. 5. Offer a cooking & tasking demo on the first Thursday that meal packages are distributed. O. FUNDRAISING 1. Submit timely requests for the fall fundraising cycle. 2. Submit requests to local utility companies (e.g., Westar, Kansas Gas) 3. Expand the number of small donations ($50 & under) to grow community awareness and support. 4. Expand this list of supporters P. FINANCES 1. Avoid opening a checking account and associated expenses (audits, etc.) - rely on fiscal agents such as the Food Bank, and maximize use of the GIV Warehouse. 2. Identify community partners (churches, civic groups, and businesses) willing to donate &/or pay directly for expenses; e.g.: printing posters & flyers, extra foods, zip lock bags, plastic aprons, etc. 3. Identify partners to: provide baby food collect, organize and hand out childrens books once a week organize Spa Bags (toiletries) donations of inexpensive free toys Q. LUNCHBOXERS 1. Use the Workforce Alliance again to pay teen volunteers/workers, if it is willing. 2. Alternatively, approach local businesses about sponsoring these youth. 3. Need a clearer understanding re LunchBoxers roles during the Summer Academy. 3

4. Shorten and modify the Smart Work Ethics curriculum. 5. Need more hours but not more kids: 20 hours/week for 6 weeks - using 2 hours as flex time for busy days. 6. Add to working at Numana Gardens to job description (or NG could contract with Workforce Alliance) 7. Create an application form & process to identify youth for next year. 8. A mix of teens ages 14 - 17 from diverse economic backgrounds, including teens in foster care.

R. Information distribution
1. Continue to pass out community information relevant to low income households. 2. Advertise CommunityGrace.info -- a website that lists community resources in Butler County, KS. S. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. VOLUNTEERS Continue using an intergenerational group of volunteers, with a balance of ages for specific events. Need a contingency list of volunteers who can sub at the last minute. Include youth who need community service hours, provided they are vetted and assigned strategically to maintain a good balance of diverse volunteers. Maybe collaborate with Numana Gardens to add harvesting our produce as a volunteer activity. As we grow, we will need a larger core group of volunteers, but eliminating Weekend Foodpacks free up some volunteers to help with daily lunch sacks. . Offer a brief Volunteer Orientation at the end of June. Need 3 or more volunteers to take turns as the daily Site Coordinator (preferably the same person each day of the week for the entire 6 weeks).

T. Weekend Foodpacks: logistics

1. Start sooner to fill the gap after school is out (starting 5/23) and before the Summer Academy begins. 2. Budget to send home an extra Foodpack the last Thursday, to fill the gap during first week of school. 3. Budget to purchase surplus F4K backpacks to donate to USD 490 to fill the gap between school starting and when F4K backpacks start in Sept. 4. FWC: change pick up time to 5:15 - 6:15 pm 5. Its often really hot or rainy when distributing at the FWC, but it provides visibility and eliminates having to carry the food inside. Is there a better place to do this? Can we borrow a pop up canopy tent for when rains?

U. Weekend Foodpacks: EXPANDING

1. Increase from 1134 to 1500 2. Consider expanding to serve children living adjacent to 67042 zip code area. 3. Partner with community organizations (school districts, churches, civic groups, etc.) to expand in those areas. 4. Set up separate accounts at the Food Bank for donations or centralized?

W. Weekend Foodpacks: OUTREACH

1. Expand the initial outreach to register more children much earlier: such as posters inside offices at apt complexes & mobile home parks, and improved outreach via DCF and the Health Dept. 2. Budget to send postcard reminders (need volunteer help to address them). 3. Hand out calendars listing all pick up dates. 4. Post large signs at pickup sites for REMINDERS about future distribution dates. 5. Create Spanish versions of flyers & posters. 6. Add leafleting to LunchBoxers duties during the last week of June. 7. Offer food for adults

X. Weekend Foodpacks: NO SHOWS

Each week there were no shows of registered kids. This might reflect custody changes over the summer & other changes in circumstances (e.g., moves), or people passing through town. Might also reflect displeasure with the kind or quantity of food provided. Sample no show information: 1 family with 7 kids dropped out when kinship care of 4 nieces ended 4

2 pre-registered households never showed up 6 households came only 1 time; 9 came only 2 times; 5 came only 3 times