"I like getting Food Share. Sometimes we don't have any food. Also, my Mom sometimes doesn't have money to buy food."
One challenge we all face, as we strive for a food secure Colorado , is identifying those most in need. Knowing that our children are our future, and that children cannot learn and develop optimally when they are hungry, Community Food Share is focusing one direct service program specifically on families with children in the School Free Lunch program.
Feeding Families Warehouse Distribution Program
In Boulder and Broomfield counties there are 10,000 children enrolled in the School Free Lunch program. The income level required for this program (as well as for the Food Stamp program) is 130% of the federal poverty line, which is $26,000 annually for a family of four. The Feeding Families program targets this population specifically. Families (most of whom are the "working poor") may select food directly from Community Food Share's warehouse on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays, from 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM. Each family can choose a cartful of groceries (80-100 pounds) weekly.
We estimate that the 10,000 children enrolled in the School Free Lunch program represent approximately 3,000 families. At the beginning of 2007, 250 families were participating in Feeding Families; at the end of the year we had served up to 1,000 families and had to temporarily stop new enrollment to make sure we had enough food for all of our programs. Happily, recently we have been able to add families from the waiting list.
The Need Still Remains
But, there are still an estimated 2,000 families in this population who we are not serving because we simply do not have enough food. Food banks across the country are facing a flattening, or even decline, of donated food - our largest source - and this holds true for Colorado food banks as well. Going forward our greatest challenge will not be identifying who needs food; it will be finding enough food for those in need in our county.
Louise is a single mother with two boys -- one son is twelve and the other is two. At times it has been a struggle for Louise to pay the rent and utilities, gas for the car; not to mention have enough food on the table for her two young sons. She now comes to the warehouse once a week to receive a nutritious balance of food items to ensure that she and her two sons always have enough food to eat. With the Feeding Families program, Louise never has to worry about where her next meal is coming from.
Pictured below is a heartfelt Thank You from the I Have a Dream project coordinators and volunteers who have helped with this program.
If you would like access to food assistance, please see the agency list on the Resources page for the agency nearest you. If you are interested in the Feeding Families food distribution program, and your child is participating in the free lunch program at his or her school, then you are pre-approved. Please bring the letter of acceptance from the school district, and a photo I.D., to our office in order to apply. Feeding Families is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8AM - 1:30PM.
CFS's innovative program, Feeding Families, won the 2005 NOVA Health & Human Services Award from the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County. NOVA Awards honor entrepreneurial spirit and innovation in the nonprofit sector.
