Food2Kids
Turning the Tables on Childhood Hunger

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC helps to provide Food2Kids in need across Northwest NC through our partner agencies like soup kitchens, emergency food pantries and low-income daycare centers. We also collaborate with our partner agencies to provide Food2Kids through two special programs aimed at reducing childhood hunger: Kids Cafes and The BackPack Program, both nationwide initiatives of Feeding America,feeding hungry children locally. In addition, we have joined forces with the City of Winston-Salem and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools to feed hungry children in Forsyth County through the Summer Feeding Program.

Kids Cafes
In Savannah, GA in 1989, two young brothers were discovered one night in the kitchen of their housing project's community center after the older brother broke into the kitchen to feed himself and his younger brother. In response, Second Harvest Food Bank of Coastal Georgia started the first Kids Cafe.

Ten years ago, with support from the Kate B. Reynolds Poor & Needy Trust, Second Harvest Food Bank solidified its commitment to alleviating childhood hunger, launching its first Kids Cafe, now a nationwide initiative of Feeding America, feeding children at risk of hunger in local urban communities. Kids Cafes provide children at risk of hunger with an evening meal, tutoring and enrichment activities three nights a week throughout the year in a safe and nurturing environment.

Program sites are made possible through partnerships with pre-exisiting after school programs or other interested community and faith-based partners. Community partners provide a location, volunteers and coordinate the day-to-day operations of the programs, with program oversight provided by our Director of Childhood Hunger Programs, Daisy Rodriguez (drodriguez@secondharvest.org).

Second Harvest Food Bank provides cook salaries, staff support, technical assistance, volunteer recruitment support and food for each Kids Cafe site. Financial supporters for fiscal year 2007-08 included Dell, Food Lion Foundation and Western Union Foundations through Feeding America, High Point Community Foundation, Orr Foundation and United Way of Forsyth County. In addition, a portion of proceeds from Empty Bowls, our signature annual fundraiser presented by Texas Pete Sauces, supports the program. Expenses are kept to a minimum through use of the Second Harvest Food Bank’s food distribution program.

You can support this and other programs by making a donation. You can also support Kids Cafes with your time – serving meals or tutoring youth by donating supplies.

Kids Cafe Program Partners

In Forsyth County—

• Cleveland Avenue Homes Community Center and North Winston Baptist Church
• Green Street United Methodist Church and the YMCA/Community Outreach Services Hispanic Achievers Program
• Parkway United Church of Christ and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
• Piedmont Park Community Center and North Winston Baptist Church
• The Ken Carlson Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club on Reynolds Park Road
• The Salvation Army International Corps Boys and Girls Club on New Walkertown Road
• Main Street United Methodist and First Baptist Church

In Guilford County—

• Rankin Memorial United Methodist Church and West End Ministries and Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater High Point
• Ward Street United Methodist Church and Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater High Point
• The Salvation Army of Greensboro Center of Hope and The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs of Greensboro at Ray Warren Homes
• Sanctuary Deliverance Church
  

The BackPack Program
The BackPack program concept was developed in Little Rock, Arkansas after a school nurse asked for help because hungry students were coming to her with stomach aches and dizziness. The food bank in Little Rock responded by launching the first BackPack program to provide elementary school children at risk of hunger with backpacks full of nutritious, child-friendly foods to take home over the weekends during the school year. With funding provided by Lowes Foods for seven pilot sites, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC launched its first program site in 2005.

Program sites are made possible through partnerships with partner agencies of Second Harvest Food Bank and selected schools that have have 50% or more of students receiving free or reduced price school meals, with program oversight provided by our Director of Childhood Hunger Programs, Daisy Rodriguez (drodriguez@secondharvest.org). Partner agencies pick up food from Second Harvest Food Bank and recruit and coordinate volunteers to fill the backpacks for delivery to selected schools each Friday. Each program distributes a maximum of 50 backpacks per week. School teachers and administrators determine which children will participate. Parental consent is required for each child, and student names are kept confidentially at the school.

Financial supporters for fiscal year 2007-08 included American Express, Annie Penn Community Trust, Lowes Foods/ George Foundation, Salem Presbytery and Syngenta Corporation.

You can support this and other programs by making a donation or learn more about the program by contacting Daisy Rodriguez, Director of Childhood Hunger Programs, at (drodriguez@secondharvest.org) or 336.784.5770.

BackPack Program Partners
Each site is supported by the Second Harvest Food Bank in collaboration with the following partners:

• Alexander County — Taylorsville Rotary Club with Taylorsville Elementary School
• Alleghany County — Alleghany County Ministerium with Sparta School
• Ashe County — Ashe Outreach Ministries with Blue Ridge Elementary School
• Caldwell County — Gamewell United Methodist Church with Gamewell Elementary School
• Caldwell County — Granite Falls United Methodist Church with Dudley Shoals Elementary School
• Caldwell County — Whitnel United Methodist Church with Whitnel Elementary School
• Davidson County — Fairgrove Family Resource Center with Briarcreek Elementary School
• Davidson County — Communities In Schools and the West Davidson Ministers Association with Churchland Elementary School
• Davidson County — Communities In Schools of Lexington/Davidson County with Pickett Primary School
• Guilford County — Guilford Child Development with Wiley Elementary School
• Iredell County — First Baptist Church of Statesville with Third Creek Elementary School
• Randolph County — Communities In Schools of Randolph County with Ramseur Elementary School
• Rockingham County — Reidsville Outreach Center with Williamsburg Elementary School
• Stokes County — King Outreach Ministry with Nancy Reynolds Elementary School
• Surry County — SEAMS Ministries with Westfield Elementary School

Learn more about Second Harvest Food Bank's work to alleviate childhood hunger.

Summer Feeding
In 2009, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC joined forces with the City of Winston-Salem and the
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System to feed children throughout the summer months in Forsyth County.

The 2009 program will begin on June 22 and run through August 14, providing meals free of charge for children ages 0-18 at 23 sites in Forsyth County. Breakfast (8:15am- 8:45am) and lunch (11:30am-12:30pm) will be provided at the following sites:

Brunson Elementary (August 3-12)
Carter Vocational High
Carver High
Cook Elementary
Easton Elementary
Forest Park Elementary
Griffith Elementary
Hall Woodward Elementary
Hill Middle (June 22-August 7)
Kennedy Middle (July 6-August 14)
Kernersville Elementary
Latham Elementary
Lowrance Middle
Mineral Springs Middle
North Hills Elementary
Old Town Elementary
Parkland High (July 13-July 24)
Petree Elementary
Philo Middle
South Fork Elementary
Speas Elementary
Walkertown Elementary
Wiley Middle

Parents of the children participating may purchase lunch for $3.

More than 422,000 children in North Carolina are food insecure – unable to consistently access adequate amounts of nutritious food that is necessary for a healthy life. And over 24,000 children in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools alone are eligible for free/reduced lunch.

For more information on having your child participate or to volunteer at a site, please contact the Child Nutrition Department of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools at 336.771.4526 or click here.