The Bennington Rutland Supervisory Union (BRSU) offered free summer meals for all kids 18 years old and younger this summer, thanks to the SUN program (Summer Food Service Program). SUN is a federally funded service from the United States Department of Agriculture designed to help feed children 18 years and younger during the summer months.
“We were already staffed up to provide meals for summer school students at Currier and MEMS (Manchester Elementary Middle School),” says Stephanie Gates, Director of BRSU Food Services. “When I found out about the opportunity to provide free meal kits for kids in our area, I knew it was the right decision to add more to our plate. After all, we’re talking about feeding kids.”
As the school year wound down, Gates and her crew set about finalizing a plan. There were menus to plan and added staffing needs to consider and so much more. The focus would be on providing nutritious food for a healthy breakfast and lunch that was easy for the kids to prepare for themselves at home.
A major component of the planning process was distribution. Feeding students at school during the academic year is one thing, but providing meals at home during the summer is a whole different challenge.
One of the first decisions was to designate MEMS as the program hub. All food would be ordered and delivered to the school’s kitchen each week. BRSU staff would then package the food into bags for distribution..
For this first year of the program, people would be asked to pick up food bags around mid-day on four consecutive Thursdays. Each bag provided a child food for seven breakfasts and lunches — a total of 14 meals each week. The program launched on July 11th and wrapped up on August 1st.
While Manchester was the focal point, the plan was to offer families three points of distribution. In addition to MEMS, food bags could be picked up at the Currier Memorial School in Danby and the Mettawee Community School in Pawlet. The BRSU was also able to offer meals at Arlington High School with the help of the Arlington/Sandgate/Sunderland lunch program offered through the volunteers with some of the local churches.
In the first week of the program, the BRSU handed out over 150 bags. With the help of continued promotion and word-of-mouth, by week four the number had grown to 250. During the entire program close to 13,000 meals were distributed.
Gates is quick to point out that success required the collaboration of multiple BRSU departments and local partners. In addition to the kitchen staff, custodians and bus drivers all pitched in to help. One critical tool in the plan was the use of a refrigeration truck for added storage.
“I researched possible costs for renting a truck because we would need refrigeration for this program to work, the price was very expensive to rent for the month,” says Gates. “I was then connected with Three Sisters Family Trailer Leasing out of Springfield, VT. John and Lory gave us an offer that was too good to be true. I’m not sure how we would have done this without them.”
Gates is already planning improvements for next summer’s program. Changes may include adding more distribution points, extending the program, and moving the pick-up time to late afternoon/early evening to further help working parents. Gates is sending out a survey to this year's participating families for feedback for next year’s food delivery.
“You do school food service, because you love it,” says Gates. “Our goal is to feed the kids, anyway that we can. I was very happy to see the success of this program and look forward to doing it even better next year.”
(Photo above: The BRSU's Danielle Dufresne and Betsie Brunina, part of the awesome kitchen crew bagging fruits and vegetables for summer meal kits.)
The BRSU's Wren Dullahan and Stephanie Gates preparing for meal kit distribution at MEMS.
BRSU's Stephanie Gates and Elaine Badger helping to move meals from MEMS to Currier
Food for meal kits for kids distributed weekly by BRSU staff.