It’s that time of year, back to school time! While kids are busy buying school supplies and getting into the early morning routine, local school administrations are gearing up for another year of providing backpack meals to their food-insecure children. From principals and teachers to social workers, food service workers, and district administrators, a great deal of planning and logistics is involved in making this process run smoothly. How do they safely store the frozen meals until students pick them up? How do they decide which children will receive them? What happens if the children are absent? We at Cultivate Food Rescue respect all the dedication required by schools to allow our backpack program to run successfully.
We recently had the opportunity to show this deep appreciation for our local school partnerships. On August 2nd, several staff and administration from area schools attended our school recognition dinner. In addition to a delicious meal provided by Chef Kevin Guenther, attendees networked with one another, sharing ideas and best practices. We celebrated our partners from Bremen, Plymouth, WaNee, Elkhart, LaVille, and South Bend.
When asked what their students think of the Cultivate meals, a Madison STEAM administrator shared how one student told her she goes home and shares the meals with her little brother. Anecdotes like these are so important to celebrate among both schools and Cultivate staff. They remind us of the importance of the work we do as well as shine a light on our potential. This school year, Cultivate Food Rescue has a goal of providing meals to 1,000 students, an increase of 25% over last year. Thank you in advance to all of you who will join us to achieve this goal. We change lives, one meal at a time.
