The Summer and At Risk Afterschool Meals for Kids programs are federally funded, USDA monitored programs that are designed to offer free meals and snacks to both kids and teens when school is out of session in areas in which 50% or more of school age students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. For All plays several roles in this program including meal sponsors, site hosts, and Art in the Park coordinators. As meal sponsors, For All is contracted with the State of Washington to create and serve free meals and snacks that are eligible for reimbursement if created under strict guidelines and served properly to kids and teens in designated areas. This makes it possible for For All to provide from-scratch meals and snacks for programs like the Freedom Schools summer education program traditionally held in Rainier Beach High School, free of charge. Having this food access available fulfills a requirement of the Freedom Schools program that breakfast and lunch is provided for every student in order to maintain their funding. The meal is created and delivered to the Summer school program free of charge, and each qualified meal is reimbursable to For All as a sponsoring organization through federal funding.
Though sponsors must follow strict meal patterns regulating the types and quantities of food that are in each meal, the quality of the food is often determined by the sponsoring organization’s budget and standards. It is very common for sponsoring organizations to provide USDA qualified meals that are 100% shelf stable and individually wrapped in single use plastic packaging. Despite the fact that these types of meals are often nutrient deficient, create trash with every meal served, and encourage the association of single use plastic products in low income communities, these meals are technically 100% reimbursable by the State and Federal governments if served properly by their standard.
For All takes a different approach to children’s nutrition and food sharing standards. We create fresh, from-scratch meals made from 95% surplus food from grocery stores and retailers. Meaning that we are recovering surplus, often organic food from being thrown away and shipped to landfills, and repurposing that food to create free, nutritious meals for kids and teens to increase food access when school is out. We use our resources, including the coordination of dozens of volunteers and youth interns, to pick up the food from the retailer, transport it back to our commercial kitchen, sort the food for quality and quantity, create menus based on the USDA meal pattern and what we have available, prepare from-scratch, bulk meals to be served in stainless steel pans and durable containers, cold store the meals in commercial refrigerators to maintain proper temperature, deliver meals to partnering Summer or At Risk Afterschool Meals sites, train site staff to handle and serve food properly by health code standards, and recover service ware to sanitize and reuse.
The entirely unique aspect of For All’s Meals for Kids programs that you won’t find anywhere else in the State of Washington, is that For All provides the materials for sites to have reusable, durable plates, forks, and cups and on site, kid-powered wash stations that eliminates the waste created from single use food service products like plastic or even compostable eating ware. For example, in 2019 For All worked with the Freedom Schools program at Rainier Beach Highschool to have a wash station set up for every meal served during their 6 week summer program. Meals were served from reusable catering pans with reusable utensils onto durable plates, with real forks and durable cups. Students were responsible for composting their scraps, then running their dishes through a wash, rinse, and sanitize station. The pre-rinsed, pre-sanitized dishes were then brought back to the kitchen to thoroughly sanitize and air dry in preparation for the next meal. Using this model, For All saved nearly 2,000 single use plastic forks, plates, and cups from being thrown away and shipped to a landfill through that summer school alone. Not only that, but we facilitated youth engagement in a model for preserving and reusing resources in a low-income, BIPOC community in Seattle.
Another role that For All plays in the Summer Meals for Kids program is site host in City of Seattle Public Parks. We opened our first Summer Meals for Kids sites in 2012, starting with Maplewood Playfield in Beacon Hill with grant funds from Seattle Parks and Recreation for the Art in the Park program aimed at reducing summer learning loss, as well as Cascade, Cal Anderson, and Denny Parks in the Central area. We were, and still are, the only private nonprofit organization to host Summer Meals for Kids sites in Seattle City Parks. In the following years, we opened Summer Meals sites at Roxhill Park in West Seattle and Powell Barnett Park in the Central District. When hosting sites in City of Seattle Parks, For All is required to operate under City of Seattle meals sponsorship, meaning that we are only allowed to serve food made by the City of Seattle school district cafeterias and the City of Seattle benefits from meal reimbursement for each eligible meal that we serve. This requirement greatly reduces For All’s opportunity for funding. It also creates somewhat of a conflict of interest as the meals created by the City of Seattle contain processed animal products, and are packaged in single use plastic containers with single use utensils. That being said, For All’s mission is to reduce and bring awareness to waste and encourage positive activity that benefits us all collectively, so we are adept at taking any program and analyzing it for ways that we can operate it in a way that reduces waste. As of 2019, For All was the only Summer Meals for Kids site host that collected compost, recycling, and plastic utensils to be processed and sanitized offsite for proper disposal. We collect the plastic meal containers, bring them back to our kitchen to rinse, stack them into each other and recycle them offsite, saving a lot of space in the public park trash cans and taking recyclable products out of the landfill stream. Every year we petition the City of Seattle to consider making more eco-conscious choices in packaging and meal purchasing for the Summer Meals for Kids program.
In order to decrease the stigma around receiving free food and encourage full community engagement, For All offers fun, learning and enrichment activities along with free meals for kids and teens at Meals for Kids sites through our Art in the Park program. Activities are designed to engage families from all backgrounds and help decrease learning loss for kids and teens when school is out.
For All relies on volunteers and community supporters whose values align with our mission to show support through investment in our organization. A monthly financial pledge of support to For All helps to offset your carbon footprint and supports For All’s operational costs including vehicle maintenance, insurance, volunteer management, and facility rental.
Though sponsors must follow strict meal patterns regulating the types and quantities of food that are in each meal, the quality of the food is often determined by the sponsoring organization’s budget and standards. It is very common for sponsoring organizations to provide USDA qualified meals that are 100% shelf stable and individually wrapped in single use plastic packaging. Despite the fact that these types of meals are often nutrient deficient, create trash with every meal served, and encourage the association of single use plastic products in low income communities, these meals are technically 100% reimbursable by the State and Federal governments if served properly by their standard.
For All takes a different approach to children’s nutrition and food sharing standards. We create fresh, from-scratch meals made from 95% surplus food from grocery stores and retailers. Meaning that we are recovering surplus, often organic food from being thrown away and shipped to landfills, and repurposing that food to create free, nutritious meals for kids and teens to increase food access when school is out. We use our resources, including the coordination of dozens of volunteers and youth interns, to pick up the food from the retailer, transport it back to our commercial kitchen, sort the food for quality and quantity, create menus based on the USDA meal pattern and what we have available, prepare from-scratch, bulk meals to be served in stainless steel pans and durable containers, cold store the meals in commercial refrigerators to maintain proper temperature, deliver meals to partnering Summer or At Risk Afterschool Meals sites, train site staff to handle and serve food properly by health code standards, and recover service ware to sanitize and reuse.
The entirely unique aspect of For All’s Meals for Kids programs that you won’t find anywhere else in the State of Washington, is that For All provides the materials for sites to have reusable, durable plates, forks, and cups and on site, kid-powered wash stations that eliminates the waste created from single use food service products like plastic or even compostable eating ware. For example, in 2019 For All worked with the Freedom Schools program at Rainier Beach Highschool to have a wash station set up for every meal served during their 6 week summer program. Meals were served from reusable catering pans with reusable utensils onto durable plates, with real forks and durable cups. Students were responsible for composting their scraps, then running their dishes through a wash, rinse, and sanitize station. The pre-rinsed, pre-sanitized dishes were then brought back to the kitchen to thoroughly sanitize and air dry in preparation for the next meal. Using this model, For All saved nearly 2,000 single use plastic forks, plates, and cups from being thrown away and shipped to a landfill through that summer school alone. Not only that, but we facilitated youth engagement in a model for preserving and reusing resources in a low-income, BIPOC community in Seattle.
Another role that For All plays in the Summer Meals for Kids program is site host in City of Seattle Public Parks. We opened our first Summer Meals for Kids sites in 2012, starting with Maplewood Playfield in Beacon Hill with grant funds from Seattle Parks and Recreation for the Art in the Park program aimed at reducing summer learning loss, as well as Cascade, Cal Anderson, and Denny Parks in the Central area. We were, and still are, the only private nonprofit organization to host Summer Meals for Kids sites in Seattle City Parks. In the following years, we opened Summer Meals sites at Roxhill Park in West Seattle and Powell Barnett Park in the Central District. When hosting sites in City of Seattle Parks, For All is required to operate under City of Seattle meals sponsorship, meaning that we are only allowed to serve food made by the City of Seattle school district cafeterias and the City of Seattle benefits from meal reimbursement for each eligible meal that we serve. This requirement greatly reduces For All’s opportunity for funding. It also creates somewhat of a conflict of interest as the meals created by the City of Seattle contain processed animal products, and are packaged in single use plastic containers with single use utensils. That being said, For All’s mission is to reduce and bring awareness to waste and encourage positive activity that benefits us all collectively, so we are adept at taking any program and analyzing it for ways that we can operate it in a way that reduces waste. As of 2019, For All was the only Summer Meals for Kids site host that collected compost, recycling, and plastic utensils to be processed and sanitized offsite for proper disposal. We collect the plastic meal containers, bring them back to our kitchen to rinse, stack them into each other and recycle them offsite, saving a lot of space in the public park trash cans and taking recyclable products out of the landfill stream. Every year we petition the City of Seattle to consider making more eco-conscious choices in packaging and meal purchasing for the Summer Meals for Kids program.
In order to decrease the stigma around receiving free food and encourage full community engagement, For All offers fun, learning and enrichment activities along with free meals for kids and teens at Meals for Kids sites through our Art in the Park program. Activities are designed to engage families from all backgrounds and help decrease learning loss for kids and teens when school is out.
For All relies on volunteers and community supporters whose values align with our mission to show support through investment in our organization. A monthly financial pledge of support to For All helps to offset your carbon footprint and supports For All’s operational costs including vehicle maintenance, insurance, volunteer management, and facility rental.
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