After School Feeding Programs Page

The Food Bank of SCM partners with 3 different after-school feeding sites, serving an average of 100 kids each week during the school year.

Kids Cafe is a program of America's Second Harvest. Our mission is to provide meals to children at risk of hunger, in a safe and friendly environment.  This page offers background information on the Food Bank of South Central Michigan's kids after-school meals program so you can better understand its purpose and partners.

  HISTORY OF KIDS CAFE

Kids Cafe was first founded as Kids Kitchen, a local initiative of an affiliate of America's Second Harvest. In Savannah, Georgia, 1989, two young brothers were discovered in the kitchen of their housing project's community center. The older brother had broken into the kitchen to feed himself and his hungry younger brother. In response to this example of childhood hunger and the extent to which children have gone to feed themselves and their families, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Costal Georgia started the Kids Kitchen. This initiative mobilized much local interest and stimulated media, product donations, and funding resources in response to childhood hunger.

Seeing the impact such a model could have nationally, in 1993 America's Second Harvest adopted this program as the national Kids Cafe program. Since that time, people, resources, ideas and research have been mobilized across the country to respond to childhood hunger.

There are now over 370 Kids Cafes established by 79 America's Second Harvest Food Banks in 31 states across the country.

Locally, the Food Bank of SCM  partners with other organizations to maintain after-school feeding programs in Battle Creek, Jackson, Delton, and Kalamazoo.

  WHY AFTER SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMS?

The Food Bank of South Central Michigan was part of a national hunger study, Hunger: The Faces & Facts,  conducted in 1997 for America's Second Harvest.  This study showed us that almost half (48%) of the clients served by the Food Bank's network are children. In direct response to this finding, the Food Bank established a Kids Cafe Coordinating Committee that eventually led to the development of 11 Kids Cafes.

Many studies, like those from Tufts University, have shown the link between proper nutrition and the ability to learn and socialize. Kids Cafe directly addresses these outcomes. Additionally, Kids Cafes promote self-sufficiency as they nurture the entire family structure.

Undernutrition harms children silently. Even before it is severe and its results are readily detectable, inadequate food intake limits the ability of children to learn about the world around them. When children are chronically undernourished their bodies conserve the limited food energy available. Energy is first reserved for maintenance of critical organ function, second for growth, and last for social activity and cognitive development. As a result, undernourished children decrease their activity levels and become more apathetic. This, in turn, affects their social interactions, inquisitiveness, and overall cognitive functioning...

This evidence suggests that undernutrition costs far more than the diminished well-being of youngsters during childhood. By robbing children of their natural human potential, undernutrition results in lost knowledge, brain power, and productivity for the nation. The longer and more severe the malnutrition, the greater the likely loss and the greater the cost to our country."

                                            - Excerpted from Statement on the Link between
                                              Nutrition & Cognitive Development in Children, 1998,
                                              Tufts University School of Nutrition Science & Policy.

  WHAT IS AN AFTER SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM?

The mission of our after-school feeding programs is a simple one. It is to provide meals to children at risk of hunger, in a safe and friendly environment within their neighborhood. These after school feeding sites are linked with educational and recreational activities.

  WHERE ARE THEY LOCATED?

To date we have established after-school feeding programs in the following locations:

        Battle Creek: Westlake School
        Kalamazoo: Eastside Youth Center
        Jackson: Lily Mission Baptist Church

KIDS' AFTER-SCHOOL PACK PROGRAM

The Kids' After-school Pack program targets children from low-income families who are at risk of going hungry. Once each week kids are given special backpacks that are filled with non-perishable food. A typical backpack, depending upon our Food Bank inventory, has contained items like: a protein (canned macaroni o's & beef, or beans & franks, or beef stew, or peanut butter or soup), fruit juice and usually an additional beverage, crackers. Nutri Grain bars, single serve cookies, single serve chips, individual boxes of cereal, pudding cups, and packets of instant oatmeal.

A backpack can weigh 5 to 7 lbs., depending upon what's in it. The cost of the food included in a typical Kids' After-school Pack averages $3/pack. This does not include the cost of the cloth backpacks.

The packs are put together, assembly-line style. The packs average about 12 items, placed inside a strong plastic bag, which is then put inside the backpacks at the actual distribution site. Normally the packs are given out on Thursday. That way the children can take the food home for use over the weekend and return the packs on Friday, so the pack is ready for use the next week. Groups distributing the Kids' After-school Packs typically come to the Food Bank to pick them up.

As of the 2007-08 school year, Kids After-school Pack sites include:

       Franklin School (Battle Creek Public Schools)
       Prairieview School (Lakeview Public Schools)
       Coburn, Dudley, Post, Wilson Schools (Battle Public Schools)
       Washington Heights Community Ministries (Battle Creek)
       Springfield Middle School (Battle Creek)
       Albion Public Schools (via New Hope Church) - Kids' Backpack site
       Edison, Lincoln, Milwood, Spring View Elementary, Washington Writer's Academy (via
           Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes)
       Jackson Public Schools (via Immanuel Lutheran)
       Vicksburg Public Schools (via Generous Hands)
       Other Kalamazoo County (via Third Reformed Church)
       Jackson Public Schools (Immanuel Lutheran Church)
      

  WHO ARE THE AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM PARTNERS?

The Food Bank partners with a variety of organizations in our Kids Cafe program, including: Michigan Education Association, City of Battle Creek, Parks & Recreation Just For Kids After School Program, 21st Century/Battle Creek Public Schools, Minority Program Services, Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, Eastside Neighborhood Association (Kalamazoo), Battle Creek Public Schools, Lakeview Public Schools, Lakeview/Urbandale Kiwanis Club, City of Albion Parks & Recreation Dept., First Congregational Church (B.C.), St. Philip Catholic (B.C.), First United Methodist (B.C.), and St. Thomas Episcopal (B.C.), Generous Hands, Inc, Immanuel Lutheran (Jackson) and Milwood Reformed Church.

  WHO ARE THE CURRENT AFTER-SCHOOL FEEDING  FUNDERS?

Funding for the Kids Cafe program has come from a variety of sources, including: Ronald McDonald House Charities of West Michigan, United Way of Battle Creek, Albion Public Schools, Greater Kalamazoo United Way, Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, America's Second Harvest/Wal-Mart, Lakeview/Urbandale Kiwanis Club, 1st United Methodist (Battle Creek), Sunrise Rotary Club, St. Philip Catholic (Battle Creek), St. Thomas Episcopal (Battle Creek), First Congregational (Battle Creek), Kraft Foods/POST Division and Chartwell's (Albion).

  QUICK FACTS REGARDING KIDS LIVING IN POVERTY & HUNGER

Children who grow up in families below 185% of the federal poverty level and who live in hungry and/or food insecure homes suffer from two to four times as many health problems as their counterparts who do not experience hunger.

Malnutrition-related ailments afflicting these children included unwanted weight loss, fatigue,
    headaches, irritability, inability to concentrate, and frequent colds.
Children between the ages of 5 and 7,  living in food insecure households have nearly 3-4
     times the odds of stunted growth.

Poor children also face the following odds:

two times more likely to have repeated a grade by grade 12
one-third less likely to attend college and only half as likely to earn a bachelor's degree
almost two-and-three-quarter times more likely to have stunted growth
three to four times more likely to have iron deficiency
over one-and-a-half times more likely to contract pneumonia during childhood.
source: Recipes for Success, America's Second Harvest, May, 2001

Dispelling The Myths About Childhood Hunger

  Did you know that 39% of the household members served by the Food Bank of SCM's hunger-relief network are children? Read an in-depth America's Second Harvest analysis of why kids are going hungry in America. Click here.

  Take a look at answers to some myths regarding childhood hunger. Click here.

For a powerful link to the Children's Defense Fund, click here.                                      

CONTACT US! For more information on kids after-school meal programs. Please contact us at 269-964-3663.

                       To get back to Food Bank main (home) page click here.