May 13, 2013

LC food donations benefit school children

Bon Appetit Fellow Claire Cummings ‘11, describes her experience visiting Urban Gleaners, a food donation warehouse for Title 1 schools.

I worked with the amazing teams of staff at Lewis & Clark and Reed College to get food recovery programs started with Urban Gleaners and we have been donating every week since the beginning of April. 

Urban Gleaners worked with Principal Kate Barker at Cherry Park Elementary School (one of the schools they donate with) to have her students draw on a paper plate what they had for dinner the night before. I took a photo of a couple drawings…they are powerful images (click HERE to view photos).

Once the food has left our café, it is taken back to Urban Gleaners’ small warehouse in NW where they inspect the food to make sure it is fit for consumption, they then break it into smaller portions which are taken to one of twelve Title 1 schools in the area. The majority of the students at these schools are on free or reduced lunch programs and are from low income families.

At the school, the food gets laid out on a table by category (produce, diary, prepared meals, etc.) and families come by when they pick up their children to “shop” for items to take home and eat. This ensures that the children get fed outside of school and that other family members don’t go hungry.

Lewis & Clark College has donated 1,825 pounds since the start of the program, and the food we donate is high quality, nourishing food!

For more information on Urban Gleaners, please visit their website.

Submitted by Claire Cummings ‘11