Feeding the children

Bev Jones and Jim Larkin of Essex Junction are among volunteers for the Ecumenical Lunch Bunch.

Photo contributed

Summer lunch program fills the gaps

For The Essex Reporter

Each morning in Vermont, 19,000 children awaken worrying over whether or not they will have enough food to eat that day. Food insecurity is not just a problem in inner cities, but in seemingly affluent places like Essex Junction, where close to 16 percent of school-aged children qualify for free or reduced price school lunch. While school breakfast and lunch programs fill some of the gap during the school year, these children face a greater risk of hunger come summer when school is no longer in session.

“In the summer, that’s 20 more meals a week that have to come from household budgets,” said Joanne Heidkamp, program director for the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

Rising food and fuel costs are pinching family budgets now more than ever, presenting an even greater need for assistance. As one example, Heidkamp pointed to food stamp applications that have hit a 15-year record high in Vermont.

Two local communities, Colchester and Essex Junction, are working hard to alleviate this problem through ambitious volunteer initiatives. The Colchester lunch program, the first of its kind in the state, formed eight years ago. Over the years, it has served as the model for a half dozen similar programs across the state including the six-year-old lunch program in Essex Junction. Colchester coordinator Mary Lou DeCosta said she started the program partly because of her own experience.

“Back in time, before 2000, I had been in a place where I needed a program like this and there wasn’t one,” she said. That first summer, the Colchester program served just three children. Last summer, 80 youngsters benefited from the weekly bags of groceries containing enough staples, fruits, vegetables, and snacks to provide nutritious lunches for five days of the week. The Colchester program functions out of the Mallets Bay Congregational Church. Volunteers from neighboring churches gather to bag the groceries, while still other volunteers pick up and deliver the food.

While a handful of communities in Chittenden County take advantage of on-site programs funded by the federal government, DeCosta indicated that Colchester is in a unique situation in that the community is not on the CCTA bus line. As a result, a delivery system, something that the federal government doesn’t fund, seemed like the only way to reach families living in the more outlying areas of the town.

Like the Colchester program, the Ecumenical Lunch Bunch in Essex Junction runs out of a local church. It, too, functions via weekly deliveries. St. James Episcopal Church parishioner Mary Carlson said the program started following conversations between the village’s school nurses and the church’s outreach committee. “We wanted to fill this gap, but we felt that it was beyond what one church could do, so we approached the other churches,” she said. The group fed 15 children from five families in that first year. By last year, it had tripled its efforts, doling out 230 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 187 loaves of whole wheat bread, 175 gallons of milk, and 336 containers of yogurt.

Both programs run on a shoestring, relying heavily on donated food or inexpensive goods purchased through the Vermont Food Bank. The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger provided start-up funds for both programs. Additionally, statewide religious organizations like the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont have provided grant monies, and participating churches contribute funds in addition to manpower. Community support has also come from area grocery stores.

DeCosta said last year’s expenses totaled just over $3,000 for the nine-week program, while Carlson said the 10-week village program incurred expenses totaling $2,133. Beyond funding, Carlson indicated the greatest challenge has been soliciting families who would qualify for the confidential program – something DeCosta struggled with as well in those first few years.

Qualifying families in Essex Junction can contact Carlson at 879-5258. Families in need in Colchester who wish to participate can contact the Mallets Bay Congregational Church at 658-9155 or send an email to colchsummerlunch@aol.com.