August - Community Kitchen of Monroe County

Food for Thought
August 2015
A newsletter published by Community Kitchen of Monroe County, Inc.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jim Becker
Elizabeth Blauvelt
Taegan Bolden-Davis
Kyla Cox Deckard
Seth Elgar
Laurie Eynon
Jennifer Flynn
Elizabeth Gentry
Valeri Haughton
Judy Lucas
Emily Phelps
Hope Snodgrass
Ryan Strauser
Jeff Watson
Dan Williamson
STAFF MEMBERS
Megan Betz
Shaina Clerget
Caitlin Conley
Tim Clougher
Shaina Dexter
Debbie Hopson
Heather James
Alex Mann
Ashley Mann
Ben Myers
Vicki Pierce
Adam Sommer
Kyle Sons
Bruce Woodward
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Area 10 Agency on Aging
Bloomington Township
Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington
Ellettsville Boys & Girls Club
Girls Inc.
Hoosier Hills Food Bank
IU Health - Positive Link
LifeDesigns
Martha’s House
MCCSC
New Hope Family Shelter
Perry Township
Rhino’s Youth Center
RBBCSC
Stone Belt
The Rise
Transitional Services Inc.
United Way of Monroe County
Working to provide a Hunger-Free Summer for Kids
Summer is always an interesting time for us at Community Kitchen. You have heard or read us filling
you in on our experiences with state monitors for the Summer Food Service Program last summer.
We shared with you our attempt to find a solution to our ongoing differences with them. We tried
doing things differently this summer, and things didn’t work out the way we had hoped.
This summer we turned five of our neighborhood sites into congregate sites, where the children
would sit down and eat on site. We provided breakfast or lunch to children in five low-income
neighborhoods in a congregate style setting. Our hope was to serve the same number of children in
those sites as we normally do, but to be able to claim state reimbursement for a much higher percentage of the meals because they would be eaten on site. We went to the other four neighborhoods
and did not try the congregate style there. We simply handed out meals to the children there, and
they could take them back to their homes to eat. We knew we would not be able to claim any reimbursement for those meals, but there were no spaces that could be used as congregate sites in those
locations. If things went according to plan this summer, we would serve more meals to children and
would receive more reimbursement, along with much less hassle trying to agree with the state about
how we were providing the meals.
The reality wasn’t what we had hoped. We served fewer children AND received much less reimbursement. We found reinforcement for our long held belief that congregate sites are not the way to serve
children in our community. All but one of the congregate sites served significantly fewer children than
last year. In addition, at those congregate sites, we still had trouble getting children to STAY and eat
on site. Each meal that went home with a child, was one we could not claim. Even in those congregate
sites, we were only able to claim 45% of the meals served. It was an experiment worth trying. We
were at a point that we needed to try it EXACTLY the way the state wanted. The result: It doesn’t work.
There is hope! There is currently proposed bipartisan legislation, the Hunger-Free Summer for Kids
Act, that begins the conversation about addressing these very limiting rules. This legislation seeks to
make it possible for more kids to access nutrition programs like ours throughout the summer. The bill
would make it easier for states to reach low-income children in hard-to-reach places, such as rural
communities or areas currently ineligible to host summer sites. For example, when accessing a
summer meal site is difficult or impossible for children, it would provide the option to deliver meals
or allow children to leave a site with a meal for later. In other circumstances, states would have the
option to provide low-income families with a grocery store credit during the summer months to purchase nutritious foods, a model that has been proven to reduce
the most severe forms of childhood hunger by up to one-third.
In order for this bill to become part of the larger Child Nutrition
Reauthorization legislation that will come before Congress in
September, we must show that it has bipartisan support in the
Senate. And we must act now – this won’t come up again in
Congress for five more years.
Support this bill by signing the petition, emailing or tweeting
senators, that this is important NOW! The link is: http://bit.ly/
CNRFB0815 With legislation like this, Community Kitchen
Community Kitchen
could provide meals to many more children, more effiof Monroe County, Inc.
ciently and effectively, AND could receive reimbursement
PO Box 3286
from the state, ensuring the program could continue year
1515 S Rogers Street
after year. This is very important to the future of CommuBloomington, IN 47402-3286
nity Kitchen providing summer meals to our community’s
Phone: (812) 332-0999
most vulnerable children. Please make it a priority to sign
Web: www.monroecommunitykitchen.com
Email: [email protected]
on today!
Dana Baker was one of our regular
summer bakers. She made homemade
drop scones each Thursday throughout
the summer for kids’ breakfast.
THANK YOU!
We would like to thank the following organizational and institutional supporters and we encourage you to thank them as
well. The groups below have provided financial, in-kind, or volunteer support since our last newsletter:
Alley Bar
Altas Ballroom LLC
ARCOP Inc.
Area 10 Agency on Aging
Atlas Ballroom
Baxter Employee Giving Campaign
Baxter Pharmaceuticals
Bell Trace Health & Living Center
Bethel Lane Holiness Community Church
Blondie's Cookies
Bloomington Bicycle Club
Bloomington Friends Meeting
Bloomington Township Trustee
Congregation Beth Shalom
Crossroads United Methodist Church
Dagwood Deli
Daughters of Isabella, St Bernadette Circle #712
Delta Theta Tau, Zeta Chapter
Dzierba Real Estate Services
Edwards Farm Supply
Ellettsville House of Prayer
Fifth Third Foundation
First United Church
First United Methodist Church
Function Brewing
Grandview Elementary School
GSEI international students from IU
H&R Block
Hand in Hand a Stone Belt Project
Harrell-Fish Inc.
Headley Quarter Horses
Hearthstone Health Campus
Herald-Times
Hilger Enterprises - Orkin Pest Control
Hilland Village Church of Christ
Islamic Youth Group
IU International Student Department
J&J Quality Rentals
Kappa Kappa Kappa - Gamma Associate Chapter
Korean Presbyterian Church
Kroger Community Rewards
LIFEDesigns
Little Union Baptist Church
Lucky's Market
Meadowood Retirement Community Residents
Monarch Charitable Foundation
No Coast Reserve
North Central Church of Christ
One World Enterprises
Outdoor Improvements
Papa John's
Perry Township Trustee
Piazza Produce
Pizza X
Rally's Hamburgers
Rice's Quality Farm Meats Inc
Runcible Spoon Cafe
South Central Community Action Program
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church
St. Mark's United Methodist Church
St. Paul Catholic Center
St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church
Stanford Outreach
Sunny Branch Farm
The Back Door
Transitional Services Inc.
Trinity Episcopal Church
Unionville Church of Christ
Unitarian Universalist Church
United Way of Bartholomew Co.
United Way of Monroe County
University Baptist Church
Upland Brewing Company
Walmart Foundation
Webster Gladstone Foundation Inc.
Yesarang Church
Jan - July 2015 Meal Counts
Rogers Street
Express
Feed Our Future
Nutrition Links
Backpack Buddies
Martha’s House
Senior Links
Summer Food Service
Total
35,074
29,892
56,043
2,253
19,050
8,188
2,933
8,652
162,085
Trivia Night for Community Kitchen
Thursday, September 3rd
The Attic at Nick’s English Hut
Doors open: 6:00pm Trivia: 7:00pm Cash prize
$10 at the door to benefit Community Kitchen.
*Generously sponsored by Monarch Beverage Company
Chefs’ Challenge 2015 – Sunday, October 4th
Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Competition begins at 7:00pm
Community Kitchen will hold the ninth annual Bloomington’s Chefs’ Challenge on Sunday, October 4th. Based on
television’s popular Iron Chef, this culinary event will feature three local chefs who will have one hour to prepare a
winning dish from a pantry of ingredients. A mystery ingredient will be revealed right before the competition begins.
BCAT film crews will show close-ups of the fast-paced action on the theater's big screen. Emcees will update the
audience as the competition heats up, and the celebrity judges will pick the top dish. Judging is based on the use of
time, use of product, including secret ingredient, presentation and taste. Three chefs will be chosen through email
voting to compete in this year’s competition.
Watch the Herald-Times in September for a list and bios of potential competitors. Then vote for your favorite via
email. Tickets will be available in September at Community Kitchen, the Sunrise box office and Bloomingfoods.
Brunch Upon a Time - November 8th
Are you one of the 75 people who enjoyed our brunch in late
July? If so, we have a treat for you! We are holding another
brunch on Sunday, November 8th at Community Kitchen. The
price will again be $45/person and will include a 3 course
brunch (prepared by Chef Seth Elgar of No Coast Reserve and
Chef Dan Williamson) with paired drinks. There will be 11am
and 1pm seatings and the menu will be similar to the last
event. If you missed it, trust me, you MISSED it and won’t want
to miss it again! Get the event on your calendar and watch the
October newsletter, Kitchen website and facebook page for the
final menu and details. We promise this is a brunch you DON’T
want to miss!
Non-profit org.
US postage
PAID
Bloomington, IN
Permit No. 312
Community Kitchen
of Monroe County, Inc.
PO Box 3286
Bloomington, IN 47402-3286
Kitchen Wish List
Fresh garden produce
Canned vegetables and fruit
Onions
Potatoes
Italian Seasoning
Peanut butter
Canned/pouch chicken/tuna
Vegetable or Olive oil
Monroe County Fair Goers Support Community Kitchen
Community Kitchen is incredibly grateful for support received through the local Monroe County Fair. Each year a handful
of very generous donors purchase animals at the county fair 4-H livestock auction and donate the meat to Community
Kitchen. A good percentage of the meat we use during the year, comes from donations at the fair. We would like to send
our deepest gratitude to the following donors who purchased animals (1 steer, 1 goat and 7 pigs) for Community Kitchen
at this year’s county fair 4-H livestock auction:
Bell Trace - Health & Living Center
J&J Quality Rentals
Harrell-Fish Inc.
Edwards Farm Supply
Pizza X
Headley Quarter Horses
Community Kitchen receives $30,000 Walmart Foundation Grant
Community Kitchen was grateful this summer to be the recipient of a $30,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation. This
grant provides support for food and supply purchases, as well as some salary support for two program staff. Thank you
Walmart Foundation for helping local agencies fighting hunger!
Follow us online!
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Check out our website at www.monroecommunitykitchen.com for program, event or volunteer information, or to sign up to
receive this newsletter electronically.
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/Monroe_ck
Like us on Facebook where we post pictures and updates. Find us at https://www.facebook.com/ monroe.community.kitchen