Located in northwest Ohio, the Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center’s (OCFAC) summer meal program spans throughout Ottawa County and the surrounding areas. Last summer, the program served 97,000 meals to families, and this summer, they are on track to serve over 200,000 meals. This huge growth is due to the non-congregate option that the OCFAC started implementing last year, allowing for families in the area to pick-up multiple days worth of meals and for children to consume them off-site. Other factors attributing to their success has been their incredible staff, steady stream of volunteers, and a rented refrigerated box truck through a grant from No Kid Hungry. All of these components have culminated in nearly doubling the meal output since last summer.
The partnership between the Benton Carroll Salem school district and the Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center is another special piece of the puzzle that has enabled this meal program to flourish. Since Benton Carroll Salem does not offer a summer meals program to their community, they’ve worked to develop this partnership to ensure their students have critical access to meals during the summer while school is out.
The day after school ends, the FAC is able to move into the school’s kitchen and cafeteria, and they stay until the day before the first day of school – allowing for a near complete coverage of days when students are not in school. This strong partnership, which has developed and expanded over 4 years, allows the use of the Benton Carroll Salem school district’s kitchen and cafeteria, which provides more space to prepare, pack and store the meals. From there, meals are packed up and taken to one of nine sites, each operating on either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, to receive up to seven days of meals throughout the entire summer via this program. The meals are a nutritious mix of whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, milk, frozen, and shelf stable items to create a well-rounded menu that kids will enjoy.
Because the meal sites are non-congregate, families are not required to eat the meals on site, which means no on-site enrichment activities that many congregate programs provide. However, that has not stopped the staff from including as many additional items for their kiddos. Each week, they add word searches, mazes and other engaging activities on the back of the menus that are sent home with the families. Additionally, local organizations have also stepped up to donate items to add to the meal bags, including play-doh and small hygiene kits, to provide more than just meals.
The OCFAC’s summer meal program has become so successful and expansive over just two years. Their team runs a model program led by Ashley Walterbusch, that continues to grow and expand each and every summer. While that growth comes with new and exciting challenges, the OCFAC is certainly up for the task. The creative minds of this program are excitedly working to grow sustainably while always putting the needs of the communities they serve first, ensuring every family that needs a meal, gets a meal during the summer.