Food for kids in the summer

The Windsor Food Bank has a great way of making sure that families whose kids get free meals during the school year have extra help in the summer - they give out an extra package of food to those families every two weeks.  This summer, Foodshare worked with them to provide each family a mixed bag of produce along with the non-perishable items.  I just received this report from our partners at the Windsor Food Bank:

"The Supplemental Summer Food Program is now finished for another year. The families who utilized the program found it to be extremely helpful. A total of 41 families signed up for the program.  Fifteen of the 41 families are now using the Food Bank on a monthly basis as they were not aware they were eligible prior to applying for the Summer Food Program.

"The program was fortunate to have $1,000 allocated from the Windsor Community Service Council and $200 from JFK School to buy the items needed. A total of $1,089 was used to feed 107 children for 10 weeks.($10 per child per week)  Reuseable grocery store bags were provided by Stop & Shop and Aldi’s which made for easy packing and carrying. Several Windsor CARES volunteers packed the bags for distribution.  George, a CARES volunteer, met with me prior to each distribution to review the week's items.  He took the lead role in seeing that the bags were properly packed and ready to go.   

"A special thanks to Foodshare for offering to pack fresh fruit and vegetables for each family.  The produce was a great addition and the families spoke of the tremendous quality and volume.  Special arrangments were made for Ted to pick up the produce and fresh bread at Foodshare the morning of the distributions.  Ted was helpful in distributing these items in the parking lot after families received their bags.  

"Lastly a special thanks to the Recreation Department for once again collaborating with Social Services and offering family pool passes to families participating in the program.  A total of 27 family passes were distributed benefiting 112 Windsor residents.  The families were thrilled with the passes and spent many hours at the pools during this hot summer.

"Thanks to everyone for making this such a successful program!"