Note from the CEO
June, 2024
In the fall of 1995, I was hired as a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Volunteer at Ozarks Food Harvest in Springfield, MO. At the time, food banks were not well known and didn’t offer any programs beyond traditional food banking. As a VISTA Volunteer, I had the opportunity to attend a conference where I learned about a program called Kids Cafe.
As the story went, the origin of the program began in 1989 in Savannah, Georgia. Two young brothers were discovered late one night in the kitchen of their housing project’s community center. The older brother had broken into the kitchen to feed himself and his younger brother. I was shocked when I heard this story and knowing the poverty many families in the Ozarks where I lived faced, I set a goal to ensure children had better options and started the first Kids Cafe program there.
Kids Cafe
Starting a Kids Cafe program had been a goal of the board of directors of the Food Bank for Larimer County, so when I applied as the Executive Director, as luck would have it, I had just the experience they were seeking. This was in July 2004, and back then, many kids had few to no options to get a healthy lunch since the free and reduced lunch they received at school wasn’t available when school was out. At the time, neither local school district had a robust summer program, we knew there was a gap to fill. Luckily, we could make it happen. Due to the innovation and hard work of Food Bank staffers over the past two decades, we are now the largest provider of summer meals in all of Larimer County.
By the summer of 2005, we had Kids Cafe up and running in both Fort Collins and Loveland. Kids Cafe offers kids snacks and lunches through community partners as well as directly to kids on school-off days. When Kids Cafe first started, our commercial kitchen wasn’t yet fully functional, so we struggled to make meals at that scale. To be able to make as many lunches as were needed, we contracted with local restaurants to provide the meals. For example, one day kids were served Subway, another day Fazoli’s. Since then, the program has evolved in big ways.
After a few summers feeding kids through a program based in local partnership, we were finally able to do all the work ourselves and began providing scratch cooked meals. This brought operational costs down and allowed us to expand the program into what it is today.
Then, in 2016, a grant from NOCO Unify enabled us to buy a food truck, and The Lunch Lab was born. Having a mobile delivery option provided us with the opportunity to expand the number of routes we run in the summer, therefore reaching more kids each year.
Like in everything, the COVID pandemic threw us some curve balls.
COVID sent a huge number of kids home for virtual schooling – meaning even more might be going without lunch. To respond to this sudden increased need, we partnered with TSD and PSD to prepare meals at the Food Bank and the school district used buses to deliver meals to kids who were learning virtually. At the height of the pandemic, we were running 65 meal sites in Larimer County to get kids food. The pandemic gave opportunities for federal waivers and resources that allowed us to expand the services in this unique and challenging time. For instance, meals no longer had to be served in a congregate setting and meals could be grab and go. Unfortunately, these waivers have since sunset.
The Lunch Lab
During any “regular” summer, The Lunch Lab offers approximately 30 sites for lunch pickup. This summer, there are almost 30 sites in various Fort Collins and Loveland locations. We distribute more than 700 meals each day we operate!
Our meals are prepared from scratch daily by a cadre of devoted volunteers. Each meal includes a one-ounce whole grain component, a vegetable, fruit, 1% milk, and two ounces of protein. Our meal preparation team knows how to make tasty meals kids – even picky ones – want to eat; they work hard to integrate nutrition into meals and snacks that kids might not suspect, even. This article was published recently by the Loveland Reporter Herald. In it, Loveland 6-year-old Orion Johnson and his 3-year-old brother Forest eagerly sprinted up to the Food Bank for Larimer County’s Launch Lab truck Tuesday to get themselves a hot lunch. As Orion Johnson made it to the order window he looked up and yelled at the workers inside. “We love your food truck,” he said, stirring laughter in the crew serving up meals and his mom as she followed the boys from behind.
Creativity from our staff drives kids to want to participate. One team member created a punch card to encourage kids to come to the Lunch Lab. Each time they collect a lunch, they get a notch in their card. After four punches, they get a choose a prize! We work to integrate on-site activities at all sites, so lunch time includes eating lunch while having fun with local organizations leading special activities for kids. We’ve also got new activity books for kids to color, word searches to complete, and more!
Although summer is our busiest time when it comes to feeding kids, Our Kids Cafe program operates year-round. During the school year we provide “super” snacks to community partners, free of charge, for after-school programs all year long. We partner with other organizations, like the Boys and Girls Club and YMCAs, to provide snacks most days they are open. On school-off days (in summer and during the school year), we run our Lunch Lab food truck to provide lunches.
Kids Link
Another program focused on child nutrition and unique to the Food Bank for Larimer County is one we call Kids Link. Early in my tenure as the CEO, we received many calls from teachers, school nurses and school counselors inquiring about getting snacks for kids who came to school hungry or stayed after and had nothing to eat. These devoted folks were buying snacks out of their own pockets and needed support. Unfortunately, we can only provide food to partners that are 501©(3) charities, which school districts are not. However, I was able to find a work around by starting our own program, calling it Kids Link, and providing snacks directly to schools. It came at a cost, but our board and staff knew it was the right thing to do. Since then, we have partnered with the Junior League who took on Kids Link as a program they operate. On average, Junior League members deliver more than 75,000 healthy snacks to nearby schools where at least half the student population qualified for free or reduced meals. We currently have 22 schools participating. The Junior League coordinates with school staff and provides individually wrapped snacks, provided by the Food Bank, to help a hungry child maintain focus throughout the day. As part of the partnership, the Food Bank procures and stores the snacks while Junior League funds the program and delivers them.
With all this information about feeding programs that serve kids, it’s important to note that almost every program and service we offer contributes to feeding kids. About 56% of clients we serve at our various no-cost markets have kids at home. And, we know about 43% of Colorado families that use SNAP benefits have children at home. In one way or another, we are working hard to ensure that no child in Larimer County goes to bed hungry.
