Food on the Move

We received the drawing above from a child involved in our "Food on the Move" initiative this summer.  You'll also see a thank you letter from this child's mother. 

Partnering with the Texas Department of Agriculture through our Nurture, Knowledge and Nutrition (N,K,N) team, our AmeriCorps team and our for-profit allies at PepsiCo, we delivered thousands of meals to eligible children living all across Dallas. 

Theresa Cissell, Program Specialist for our AmeriCorps team sent the drawing and the letter my way with the following commentary:

I thought you might enjoy the letter (an accompanying drawing) we got from one of the parents at a Food on the Move site. I think it shows that this program is about more than lunches!
 
Here are some stats for the summer that I sent to the amazing AmeriCorps members that made it through the summer, and with smiles on their faces.


We started the summer with 53 dedicated AmeriCorps members & 9 mobile routes.


You made it through 40 days of triple digit temperatures & 23,943 hours of service.

And together, this is what you achieved:  1,136 children received the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award & 279,551 meals were served to kids.

The Food on the Move effort does not take into account the meals delivered through N,K,N to well over 100 program sites across Dallas.  We'll have those numbers to add to this report later.  Combined we served well over 500,000 meals to low-income children during the summer school break.
Great work in the midst of recording breaking summer in terms of both temperature and community service!

Summer Lunch numbers

For several years now, CitySquare has contracted with the Texas Department of Agriculture to provide the summer lunch program to children who receive the benefit during the school year.  The logistics of providing so many meals to a "scattered" population are challenging to say the least! 

Sonia White directs CitySquare's Nurture, Knowledge and Nutrition division which administers the food delivery program during the summer, as well at to a growing number of program sites during the year who operate after school programs.  Sonia has been recognized as a state and national leader in childhood nutrition and feeding programs. 

Here's a rundown on our summer numbers:

In 2009, we had 142 sites where we served approximately 382,800 meals to 10,000 children, total. For the mobile, that included 18 stops, 50,000 meals to approximately 1800 children. We had 5 sites in Austin, where approximately 150 children were served 3000 meals.

In 2010, we had 213 sites total, where we served approximately 717,000 meals to 17,000 children. For the mobile, that included 95 unique sites, 285,000 meals to 8000 children. In Austin we again had 5 sites, where approximately 200 children were served 6000 meals

We are projecting that in 2011, we will have 258 sites serving over 26,000 children, over 1,100,000 meals. The mobile would make up approximately 100 unique sites, 500,000 meals to 10,000 children. The Austin project would have 37 sites, 50,000 meals to 1200 children.

Even with this amazing growth, there are still 275,000 children in Dallas county eligible for this program who are NOT being served through our sites. I would guess that MAYBE a combined 25,000 of these children MIGHT be served through other sponsors in Dallas County.

CDM's AmeriCorps team: Food on the Move

Throughout this summer until school resumes, Central Dallas Ministries (CDM) will deploy a large part of its Ameri-Corps team and half of its Summer Lunch Program resources in a partnership with PepsiCo to bring Food on the Move to a number of inner city neighborhoods in Dallas County.  Part of PepsiCo's Food for Good initiative, our partnership intends to provide up to 500,000 meals to over 10,000 additional children during the summer, school break. 

Food on the Move is the only mobile food delivery program in the nation operating at this scale.  PepsiCo's involve-ment makes mobile delivery possible for children who are not involved in site-based summer programs.  The trucks deliver to apartment complexes, city parks and other high density gathering places for children who are often unattended by adults.  The genius of Food on the Move is that it takes the food to those places where children live and play during the normal course of their day. 

During the school year, over 19,000,000 children participate in the free and reduced rate school lunch program, another Department of Agriculture program.  However, during the summer months, that number drops to approximately 2,500,000 participants.  The USDA is committed to closing that hunger gap for low-income children.  Food on the Move provides a workable, scalable model that could be rolled out nationally.  Such a move is our hope as we work to perfect the process here in Dallas this summer.  PepsiCo is engaged in a similar effort this summer in Chicago in a partnership with Catholic Charities.

In addition to Food on the Move, CDM administers a contract with the Texas Department of Agriculture that serves over 125 summer program sites with another 500,000 meals.  This summer is the first full season that the mobile delivery program has been operational alongside the more traditional program, site-based approach.

A typical stop on the Food on the Move routes sees a team of AmeriCorps members arriving 30 minutes before the meal delivery to gather and organize the children at the location.  PepsiCo delivers the meals and our AmeriCorps team remains after the delivery team leaves.  During the concluding half hour, our team conducts recreational, social and educational activities and invites the children to return at the same time the next day and bring friends with them.  This process repeats itself at 20 sites each day. 

To get a feel for how Food on the Move works click here to view a CBS Channel 11 news report on the effort. 

Expect additional updates throughout the summer!