By Erin Longchari
Fall 2019
The new Summer Lunch model in the food bank.
Offering choice. A simple concept, but the fundamental reason behind big changes to our Summer Lunch program this year. As an organization, we believe in offering choice as an inherent part of a dignified and gracious experience for our shoppers. This is the reason we moved to a self-select, grocery store shopping model at the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank several years ago, and the same reason we wanted to carryover this concept of choice to our Summer Lunch program.
Instead of families lining up outside in the summer heat, being offered one identical, pre-packed bag of food per child, we’ve transitioned to self-select shopping inside the food bank. Parents could now stroll through the food bank with a grocery cart and shop from our market stocked with special Summer Lunch foods each week. Aside from a few specialty items, most items were unlimited and parents could take as much as they needed to prepare quality, nutritious meals at home for their kids.
By moving Summer Lunch indoors, we were able to use our refrigerators to provide a far greater variety of items we thought families really wanted – fresh fruit, veggies, milk, cheese, and sandwich fixings. It was readily apparent every Summer Lunch Friday that our hunch was correct - we saw first-hand families consistently choosing healthier ‘grocery store perimeter’ items each week. Moving inside has also allowed us to leverage our grocery rescue inventory each week, offering greater, rotating varieties of fresh milk, cheese, bakery items, sandwiches and prepared salads as available.
Families chose less packaged/prepared food such as mac and cheese, canned tuna or chili, ramen, even cereal – the majority of what was previously packed in a typical Summer Lunch bag.
We needed a team of 10-12 Summer Lunch volunteers every week to get our market prepped and stocked with Summer Lunch goods and to help bag on shopping Fridays!
Actively observing clients’ choices each week meant we could channel program funds into purchasing greater quantities of the items in most demand: fresh goods.
This program served an average of 277 children each week for 10 weeks – a 15% increase from 2018, despite moving the program to a different day. Parents (and kids!) expressed, repeatedly, how wonderful it is to have a variety of produce, dairy and deli items each week – distributing more than 10,000 pounds over the course of summer break.
Reflecting on Summer Lunch program changes, we remember the tangible feelings of graciousness and ease felt throughout the food bank every Friday. Ultimately, parents want to make healthy and nutritious choices for their families. We are thrilled Summer Lunch can play a small part in easing the increased financial burden of having kids home all summer.
Special thanks to all who helped fund this program, specifically our funding partners: Kritsonis & Lindor of Windermere Real Estate, Rotary Club of Sammamish, Sammamish Presbyterian Church, and Windermere Foundation.