Feed Lucas County Children (FLCC) received $2,454.47 from the Round Up Hunger campaign.
The initiative allowed customers to donate their change at Walt Churchill’s Markets in Maumee and Perrysburg during the first two weeks of July.
On Aug. 2, Chris Kozak, communications and community relations manager for Columbia Gas of Ohio, and Walt Churchill presented FLCC Development Director Emily Laurel with two checks (one from each store) at the market’s Maumee location.
“We’re so grateful for this wonderful community partnership and the ability to sustain our program,” Laurel said.
FLCC Executive Director Tony Siebeneck said the donation will provide at least 1,700 meals for Lucas County children, which is about one third of a single day’s meals, or lunch for one summer day in the county.
Laurel said FLCC is currently weighing options for a new kitchen that will be able to provide about 20,000 meals per day. Recently, the organization located a possible building for its new, expanded kitchen. Th e exact location will not be released to the public for a couple of weeks, Siebeneck said.
“We think the whole roof needs to be replaced, which will cost between $175,000-$200,000,” Siebeneck said.
Siebeneck said that because of the damaged roof, the organization’s ongoing need for community support in making the kitchen a reality has become critical.
“Th is kitchen will be the first kitchen in Ohio with the capacity to end summer hunger in the county,” Siebeneck said. “We need some people with compassion to step up to the table here.”
“What better place to donate than a kitchen feeding kids for the next umpteenth decades? … We need as many people to help as soon as we can in the county,” Siebeneck said. “It would be a great thing for the county to achieve this objective.”
Th e nonprofit organization is funded through private donors, businesses, grants, churches and federal money, according to feedlucaschildren.org. It has provided more than 700,000 summer meals for children 18 and younger since 2002, a FLCC news release said. Th is summer, FLCC has distributed from 80 different countywide locations.
On July 23, FLCC received its fi rst shipment of “weekend backpacks,” which are distributed on Fridays at the sites to provide weekend meals for all the children. Before the five-week initiative began, FLCC only provided take-home weekend meals at some of their sites.
“The governor is very tuned into child hunger and they called and asked and we came together,” Siebeneck said of the initiative. “[Ohio Association of Food Banks] agreed to ship the meals in.”
Four thousand “backpacks” will be distributed each week until Aug. 24. Each USDA approved cellophane pack contains two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners, along with two milk containers and two 100 percent juice boxes.
About 120,000 weekend meals will have been provided for Lucas County children when the project is over, Siebeneck said. Th is is in addition to the thousands of weekday meals the organization provides.
“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Siebeneck said. “It could possibly be new to the area as well.”
FLCC has reached out to area Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, along with other area groups, for help with loading and distributing the meals.
As the summer draws to an end, Siebeneck said FLCC will wrap up its fi rst annual summer kids camps and begin to start working with the schools on school meals, snacks and dinners for after-school tutoring.
Siebeneck said in mid-September probably 25-30 school sites will be utilized, but that number will grow as schools get acclimated.
Siebeneck said the camp at Knight Academy, which began June 13, did very well, and FLCC is already looking into adding more sites next summer.
“We did pretesting and already we’re starting to do some post-testing. We’re seeing nice results we’re happy with,” Siebeneck said. “When [the kids] go back to school they’ll definitely be more in the learning mode. We feel good we’ve been able to help slow down the ‘brain drain’ this summer.
For the first year of running this camp we’re pleased with the results.”
Th e free camp had 421 registered participants throughout its summer-long duration. It ended Aug. 9, but Siebeneck hopes to extend the program next summer.
“Being the first year, we were a little conservative. We’ll probably add three more weeks next summer,” Siebeneck said.
On Sept. 23, FLCC will host a benefit golf outing at Spuyten Duyval Golf Course on Central Avenue. The cost to participate is $75 per person in a foursome. Th e event comes with dinner and other perks, Siebeneck said.
More details and registration information will be available on feedlucaschildren.org later in August.
