Meals ready to eat; Second Harvest summer program feeds hungry children

Second Harvest strives to serve summer hot lunches that are not only healthy and nutritious, but look colorful and fun on the tray for the kids. The menu always includes a vegetarian option. Early bird volunteers assembling the trays are, left to right, Elizabeth Champagne, St. Mary’s Dominican sophomore; Kamri Sylve, Ursuline Academy senior; Min Salaun, Archbishop Chapelle junior; Justin Daigle, Archbishop Rummel junior; Sydney Clark, Ursuline Academy senior; Caitlyn Bernard, Archbishop Chapelle junior; and Talia Talbot, Archbishop Chapelle junior.

Community volunteer Dale Dunlap can be found in the Second Harvest kitchen several days each week, washing pots and pans and utensils and maintaining cleanliness of the equipment. “I ask the kids to think of their favorite person, and most of them say their moms,” Dunlap says, “and then I tell them to inspect this pan, imagine your mom is going to eat out of it.”

Chef Carl Romain fires up his ovens at 4 a.m. On the menu for lunch is chicken parmesan, rotini pasta, corn, wheat roll, and milk or juice.

Today, he will feed 3,900 kids.

As summer vacation brings an end to the free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch program at schools in the Greater New Orleans area, thousands of children are without regular hot meals. Second Harvest steps in with an initiative that aims to serve 175,000 meals to children in 60 participating program sites across the city. The largest summer feeding program in the state, the Community Kitchen serves summer camp programs in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. John parishes, and a satellite location in Iberia Parish.

“One out of six people in Louisiana is at risk for hunger, one out of four live in poverty, and we have one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country,” says Natalie Jayroe, President and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank. “We try to ensure as many of the children in our community who are at risk for hunger receive hot nutritious meals.”

According to Feeding America’s 2014 Map the Meal Gap findings, child food insecurity continues to rise in Louisiana. Twenty-one percent or 126,750 children in south Louisiana are food insecure, which means one in five children in south Louisiana are not sure where their next meal might come from.

As the Community Kitchen chef for Second Harvest, Romain and his crew also prepare a separate sandwich option to accommodate summer program field trips.

“Wherever the kid goes, the meal goes,” Romain explains, emphasizing the kitchen’s commitment to providing food security to kids who might otherwise go without.

Nearing the end of its fifth year of operating the summer feeding program, Second Harvest hired 17 AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates, four food service workers from area schools and recruited support from its core group of Community Kitchen volunteers to help prepare, plate, and deliver breakfast and lunch to the sites, with shifts beginning as early as 5:30 am.

“When we don’t have enough volunteers, the staff comes in,” says community volunteer Dale Dunlap. “We make sure the kids get their meals.”

Second Harvest is on track to meet or exceed 175,000 meals delivered this summer.

Chef Romain decided to mix up the meal options, says Terri Kaupp, communications and PR specialist for Second Harvest, and the children were given little comment cards, some of which were very detailed in their response.

“The kids run the show,” says Community Kitchen programs coordinator Tanya O’Reilly, laughing. “I got more calls about that damn tuna casserole!”

O’Reilly says tilapia replaced tuna and the children have been introduced to foods they’ve never had before, such as broccoli or sweet potatoes. Some of the children have reported going home and telling their parents about the healthy options they like, a positive bonus to the program.

Still, it’s the tried and true childhood favorites that win kids over.

“Spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan … the kids like that Italian stuff,” Romain says. “We ask them for their feedback and we try hard to make the meals colorful and fun.”

The Summer Feeding program has grown, in part, due to continued support from ConAgra

Feeding Children Better Foundation and the Emeril Lagasse Foundation. Relationships with the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Services and the Louisiana State Department of Education ensure the long-term sustainability of Second Harvest’s Summer Feeding program.

In the fall, after school resumes, Second Harvest Food Bank will once again provide programs such as Kids Cafe, the Backpack Program, and will introduce a new school mobile pantry program. Using a combination of child hunger programs across south Louisiana will help in the daily fight to end hunger in south Louisiana.

“Every year we grow,” says Gina Melita, director of the Community Kitchen. “It’s wonderful, but it’s a shame. The need isn’t decreasing, but our reach is expanding. Our mission is to end hunger in South Louisiana.”

For more information or to volunteer, please visit www.no-hunger.org.

Published in The New Orleans Advocate, July 31, 2014.