CACFP helps feed children through summer months

<span>The Chester Area Christian Food Pantry (CACFP) conducted a special program this summer designed to feed children who might otherwise not receive enough food.</span>

<span>Each summer, as school comes to a close, area children are often sent home to near-empty food pantries.</span>

<span>Essential nutrition is therefore lacking during the summer months.</span>

<span>"Many children receive two meals a day at school," CACFP Director Bob Koenegstein said. "Most schools offer breakfast and lunch at school, which provides a great portion of daily nutritional needs. </span>

<span>"When school comes to a close each summer, those two meals are taken out of the picture and many children suffer due to a lack of food available in the home."</span>

<span>Koenegstein and CACFP staff applied for, and received, a much-needed grant from Walmart this year to create the "Summer Food Bags for Kids Program." The program helped to feed children through the summer while schools were not in session.</span>

<span>"We applied for the grant back in November of 2014," Koenegstein said. "This grant is titled, 'Fight Hunger and Spark Change.'"</span>

<span>The $7,500 grant runs through October 31 and was used to purchase much-needed items to create food bags for kids.</span>

<span>"We looked really hard at what to include in the kid's food bags," said CACFP staff member Mike Cowan. "We were worried about kids having to use a stove which can sometimes be dangerous, so most items were easy to fix and safe to prepare."</span>

<span>Most bags included items such as cereal, canned goods (such as spaghetti), cheese and crackers, Kool-Aid tropical punch drinks, fruit cups and bottled water.</span>

<span>Occasionally, tasty treats were included, but highly nutritional items were typically emphasized.</span>

<span>"One bag per child per month was offered for each family eligible to visit the food pantry," Koenegstein said. "Our figures indicate that we provided about 250 bags of food to the children's program per month or approximately 800 bags June through August."</span>

<span>The food bags program was supplemented with food from the CACFP.</span>

<span>"We used some of our funds and resources to supplement the children's food bags created by the grant," Koenegstein said. "The need was great and we didn't want to leave anyone out.</span>

<span>"Our hope was to help children who were home for the summer to have enough caloric intake to thrive and survive throughout the summer."</span>

<span>Clients received more items at the monthly Mobile Market held at the Cohen Recreation Complex the fourth Wednesday of each month. A typical food bag distributed at the food pantry for the adult clients is valued at $85.</span>

<span>Koenegstein and CACFP staff were very pleased with this first edition of the program and hopes to be able to continue this or a similar program next summer.</span>