Nonprofit Every Meal Helps Local Schools Fill Weekend Hunger Gap
In Minnesota, one thing is guaranteed: two meals a day during the week for school-age kids.
But at Forest Elementary in Crystal, like many schools throughout the country, social worker Katie Cason knows the toll hunger can take on kids outside of school, especially on the weekends.
“When kids are hungry, it can definitely be a trigger for disengagement. It’s hard to stay focused, it’s hard to learn. It’s hard to navigate friendships sometimes when we are hungry,” Cason said.
That’s where the school’s partnership with Roseville-based nonprofit Every Meal comes in. Its goal is to provide nutritious meals for kids to take home over the weekend. The group is in 375 schools, most of them being in the metro area. There are 180 schools on its waiting list.
“I feel like, by intervening in the early years, we are setting them up for more success as they get older,” explained Wendy Olson, a longtime volunteer.
Every Meal is largely powered by volunteers, like Olson and her sister, Kerry Stroh. They form assembly lines and pack up bags of five different types of meals. They’re all color-coded for situational needs and cultural dietary preferences.
Green bags have a wide variety, blue bags are for East African diets, orange bags for Latino diets, purple for Southeast Asian diets and yellow are ready-to-eat bags with minimal prep required. Stroh and Olson said there are multiple menus for each bag, so kids don’t get the same one every week.
“They want the food to be nutritious, delicious and relevant. And the ‘relevant’ speaks to culturally relevant– they know how to prepare it, know how to use it,” Olson said.
Volunteers pack a bag of purple goods for distribution.
Discreet Distribution
For participating schools, families sign up their kids to get these weekly meals. At Forest, there are QR codes for families to scan and add their names to the list throughout the year. No additional government information is needed.
“Our parents also really appreciate right now that there’s no extra government information. They just sign their name, and their kid’s name. They don’t need social security numbers and all the other things that a lot of the other programs require,” said Cason, who works directly with Every Meal to coordinate.
Boxes of food bags are delivered by volunteers to schools, including Forest Elementary. That’s where one of many groups– like Kris Allen’s church group– come in to distribute on Thursdays and Fridays.
“We need to fill gaps for families and kids,” Allen said. “We don’t want kids to go hungry.”
Those bags get to families through children’s backpacks. The ladies follow a checklist, rolling their cart down the hallway and tucking bags into backpacks inside lockers. Each bag goes home to families. They feed about four people.
Volunteers celebrate after dropping off all the bags at Forest Elementary. They say they stop by most classrooms each week.
As the school’s social worker, Cason said the weekend meals make a huge difference for these kids. Some kids send her thank you notes, but she said most of the appreciation comes in hugs.
“It’s a different gratitude,” Cason said. “Being able to know that there’s something there is just a safety that they feel.”
That’s thanks to volunteers on all ends; building that strong foundation behind the scenes.
How You Can Help
Every Meal is always seeking volunteers, for packing in Roseville and also locally throughout the metro for distribution.
Every Meal also places some bags in public places, like the Brookdale Library, for anyone to pick up.
You can learn more about the organization and how you can help on Every Meal’s website.
