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Organization brings meals to 24 area families for the summer
BOARDMAN
Summer break is a joyful, carefree time for many students and their families.
For others, however, the end of school means the loss of guaranteed meals for their children from free or reduced-price lunches.
Local organization Making Kids Count, which aims “to make the lives of children and their families a little brighter by focusing on their individual needs,” is bridging that gap for 24 area families this summer.
“I’m a mother, so I can only imagine what it’s like not to be able to provide every-day necessities,” said MKC co-president Shelly Marlowe, of Canfield.
Marlowe, other organization members and volunteers gathered Thursday morning at their West Boulevard office to assemble grocery packages. Included in this week’s packages were tortilla shells, cucumbers, bagels, salad dressing, eggs, lettuce, cheese, butter, apples, potatoes, meat, yogurt, milk, soup, bread and other products.
Also included were two recipes, which the organization switches up with each bimonthly delivery. This time, families got recipes for chicken fajitas, and cheesy ham and scalloped potatoes.
Those who needed one also got a crock pot. “It’s encouraging people to cook, so [a crock pot] is an easy way into it,” said MKC co-president Jana Coffin.
The program aims not just to provide food, but food that working parents can prepare easily for their families, Marlowe says.
“A lot of them are kid-friendly meals,” she said, adding that they provide ingredients such as peanut butter and jelly so kids can make lunch for themselves if their parents aren’t home.
The meals mostly are about convenience, but are “healthier than fast-food, or what they’d be getting otherwise. ... This is just good, all-around wholesome food,” Marlowe said. “The meals are ones that we would cook at home, too.”
The response from recipients, she says, is overwhelmingly positive.
“A few of the families I’ve dropped off to, the kids run outside, they’re so excited,” she said.
The number of families the program serves doubled this year, up from 12 families the previous two years. Family names are provided to the MKC board by the Boardman school district.
“We had a program that ended up costing a lot less than we initially expected,” MKC program director Colleen Eisenbraun explained. “Our board decided it would be good to still focus on food.”
Making Kids Count welcomes monetary or food donations and volunteers.
The group will host a 5K fundraiser July 11 at the Canfield Fairgrounds. For more information, visit www.makingkidscount.org.