Kids Cafe & Summer Meals
  
Kids Cafe
The Kids Cafe Program was established to provide healthy meals for children in a safe after school environment. Currently, Foodlink provides meals to 1,500 children every weekday during the school year at 35 Kids Cafe sites.
In Savannah, GA in 1989, two young brothers were discovered late one night in the kitchen of their housing project's community center after the older brother broke into the kitchen to feed himself and his younger brother.
In response to this glaring example of child hunger, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Coastal Georgia started the first Kids Cafe. In 1993, America's Second Harvest launched the national Kids Cafe program.
Kids Cafe programs provide free meals and snacks to low-income children through a variety of existing community locations where children congregate such as Boys and Girls Clubs, churches or public schools. In addition to providing meals to hungry kids, Kids Cafe programs also offer a safe place, where under the supervision of trustworthy staff, a child can get involved in educational, recreational and social activities that draw on existing community programs and often include family members.
Fast Facts
• Kids Cafe is the most expansive child-feeding program in the nation.
• There are over 1,700 established Kids Cafes in operation.
• Over 12 million children live in food insecure households.
Developed as a model after-school meals program by Feeding America, Foodlink has expanded the Kids Cafe Program to provide a comprehensive set of tools that address food poverty among our city's children. In addition to food, our Kids Cafes provide fun and educational services that focus on nutrition, fitness and cultural activities with the goal of developing healthy lifestyles at an early age. According to research by the Center on Hunger and Poverty, children who participate in Kids Cafes report earning better grades in school, having more energy and less fatigue and being able to concentrate better.
Kids Cafe is a national program that aims at fighting childhood hunger and the consequences of going hungry.
Poor nutrition can:
- Create behavior problems
- Shorten attention spans
- Contribute to poor academic achievement
- Lower energy levels
- Increase incidents of high blood pressure
- Aid in early onset of Type II Diabetes
- Contribute to overweight and obesity
Foodlink sponsors 45 Kids Cafe sites throughout the Greater Rochester area and surrounding counties. Kids Cafe works to lessen the impact of hunger by offering children after school homework help, nutritional education, and a hot nutritious supper from a menu that relies on fresh fruits and vegetables, many of which come from Foodlink's own Freshwise Farms.
Sites located in community centers and churches are open to all children daily and on Saturdays in some locations. Our Kids Cafe sites provided over 200,000 meals in a supportive, nurturing environment last year.
Interested in hosting a Kids Cafe site for the current school year?
Contact Foodlink at (585) 328-3380 or info@foodlinkny.org |
