NEW HAVEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS CENTRAL KITCHEN UNVEILS FOOD TRUCK TO PROVIDE FREE SUMMER MEALS FOR KIDS

Thanks to United Way, New Haven School Food is going mobile with a new food truck that will serve kids throughout the city free healthy and nutritious meals this summer.



New Haven School Food unveiled the truck today at a dedication ceremony. NHPS Executive Director of Food Services Chef Tim Cipriano praised United Way of Greater New Haven for providing the funds to buy the truck.



“I want to thank United Way for its generosity in donating the money to purchase this food truck,” Cipriano said. “Thanks to United Way, we will bring good food directly to kids this summer and in future summers. This truck was certainly a team effort and the idea stems from a manager meeting a few years back where one of the managers from my team, Aisha Flynn, mentioned how cool it would be to have a converted ice cream truck to pass out meals to underserved neighborhoods. The truck today is where that vision has taken us.”



“Good nutrition is an essential building block for healthy growth and development and educational success. Often, the biggest barrier for kids and teens to participate in the free summer meals program is not being able to get to where they served. Embracing Gov. Malloy’s Connecticut No Kid Hungry Campaign charge - “We’ve got to make this work for everybody. We’re going to make this work in Connecticut.”- United Way and New Haven School Food are tackling the transportation barrier by bringing meals to where kids and teens live.”



United Way’s Summer Food Truck grant will enable NHPS to deliver two free meals a weekday – 1,000 free meals a day – to children living in underserved neighborhoods throughout New Haven. Federal funds will pay for the program.

New Haven School Food and United Way are partners in the Connecticut No Kid Hungry Campaign, an initiative to end childhood hunger in Connecticut by 2015 led by Gov. Dannel Malloy, End Hunger Connecticut! and Share Our Strength. This is the first food truck to serve free summer meals to children and teens in Connecticut.



Almost one in five Connecticut households with children -- 18.7% -- struggle to put food on the table, meaning more than 127,000 children in the state are considered food insecure. More than 75% of New Haven students qualified for free and reduced price school meals in 2010. However, of students enrolled in school meals programs, only one in four received meals last year through the federally-funded Summer Food Service Program.



“Kids and teens do not stop needing healthy meals when school is out,” Cipriano said. “In fact, summer can be one of the toughest times for families who rely on school food programs to make ends meet. Thank you to the United Way and Lt. Governor Wyman for sharing this historic day with us.”



The truck will be hitting the streets soon, just some last minute adjustments needed and it will be on the road! Here is the plan of sites and times once service begins:



School                            Address                      Lunch                          Supper

Betsy Ross School         150 Kimberly Ave       10:30am-11:15am       4:00pm-4:45pm

Helene Grant School      185 Goffe Street           11:30am-12:15pm     5:00pm-5:45pm


Microsociety School       311 Valley Street          12:30pm-1:15pm      6:00pm-6:45pm

Food Truck Serving Free Meals to Children Hits Streets of New Haven

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                                                 
July 19, 2011

Food Truck Serving Free Meals to Children Hits Streets of New Haven
First Free Meal Truck for Kids in the State!

New Haven School Food and United Way of Greater New Haven are revving up the New Haven Summer Food Truck to hit the road on Monday, July 25th. Generously donated by United Way to New Haven Public Schools, the Summer Food Truck will deliver free, nutritious meals to New Haven kids and teens,18 & under, throughout the rest of summer. New Haven School Food and United Way are partners in the Connecticut No Kid Hungry Campaign, an initiative led by End Hunger Connecticut!, Governor Malloy, and Share Our Strength, to end childhood hunger in Connecticut by 2015.  This is the first food truck to serve summer meals tyo children and youth in Connecticut.

In households with children, almost 1 in 5 or 18.7% struggle to put food on the table, which means that more than 127,000 Connecticut children are considered food insecure1. In New Haven, more than 75% of the students qualified for free and reduced price school meals in 2010. However, of students enrolled in school meals programs, only one in four received meals through the federally-funded Summer Food Service Program last summer. Kids and teens do not stop needing healthy meals when school is out. In fact, summer can be one of the toughest times for families relying on school food programs to help them make ends meet.

Good nutrition is an essential building block for healthy growth and development and educational success. Often times, the biggest barrier for kids and teens to participate in the free summer meals program is simply not being able to get there. Embracing Governor Malloy’s Connecticut No Kid Hungry Campaign charge - “We’ve gotta make this work for everybody. We’re gonna make this work in Connecticut.”-  United Way and New Haven School Food are tackling the transportation barrier by bringing meals to kids and teens where they live.

United Way’s Summer Food Truck grant to the New Haven Public Schools will make it possible to deliver two meals per weekday – 1,000 free meals a day-- to children living in underserved neighborhoods throughout New Haven.  Federal funds pay for the cost of the program

Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, along with other elected officials, will be in attendance to kick-off the New Haven Summer Food Truck program and help make sure that there is No Kid Hungry in Connecticut!

Date: ​  ​​July 25, 2011​
Time:        9:00am
Location: NHPS Central Kitchen, 75 Barnes Ave, New Haven


Media Contacts and Resources:​
​
Kathy Hart-Jones, Director of Marketing & Communications
United Way of Greater New Haven     Ph: 203.691.4202    Cell: 203.913-4420
Email: khartjones@uwgnh.org      Web: www.uwgnh.org

Chef Timothy Cipriano, Executive Director of Food Services
New Haven Public Schools       Ph: 203-946-8813 Ext: 11   Cell: 203-410-0831
Email:  Timothy.cipriano@new-haven.k12.ct.us
Web:  www.nhschoolfood.blogspot.com   www.nhps.net/NHSchoolFood

Shannon Robins, Connecticut No Kid Hungry Campaign Manager
A Partnership of End Hunger Connecticut! and Share Our Strength
Email: srobins@endhungerct.org     Ph: 860.878.4971   www.endhungerct.org

TRUCK LOCATIONS:
School                                Address                               Lunch                            Supper

Betsy Ross School          150 Kimberly Ave               10:30am-11:15am           4:00pm-4:45pm


Helene Grant School       185 Goffe Street                   11:30am-12:15pm            5:00pm-5:45pm


Microsociety School       311 Valley Street                  12:30pm-1:15pm             6:00pm-6:45pm

Footnote 1: The lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources.

About United Way of Greater New Haven
United Way advances the common good by creating opportunities for a better life for all.  Our focus is on education, income and health – the building blocks for a good quality of life.  United Way recruits people and organizations that bring the passion, expertise and resources needed to get things done.  Learn more at uwgnh.org.

About New Haven School Food
New Haven School Food is one of the country’s most progressive school meal programs.  Since July 2008, NH School Food has revamped its menus in an effort to educate children about food and where it comes from. The menus are full of fresh fruits & vegetables, many schools now have gardens and all sugary sweets have all but been eliminated. Chef Timothy Cipriano, Executive Director, is a leading advocate for ending childhood hunger and increasing real foods in schools. Chef Tim has gone above and beyond to make that happen working collaboratively with Congress, the USDA and the White House to improve school meals.

About Connecticut No Kid Hungry
The Connecticut No Kid Hungry Campaign is a statewide public-private partnership with Share Our Strength® and End Hunger Connecticut! aimed at ending childhood hunger by 2015 in the state by significantly increasing participation in federally-funded food and nutrition programs over the next five years. Learn more at www.endhungerct.org or www.ctsummerfood.org.

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Summer Meals in New Haven grows to new heights!

Great news for summer food in New Haven!




Today through July 15th Independent Outdoor, a digital billboard company has donated ad apace to us to promote our summer meals program!

Jpegs of the English and spanish signs are below:

The location is on heavily travelled Interstate 95 at the Q-Bridge. We are very excited to work with the community to advertise such a great program.


Check out the *NEW* CT Summer Food website, http://www.ctsummerfood.org/ for a location finder and great resources!

FREE Summer Meals Billboard is LIVE!

Thanks to a generous donation by Personal Touch Car Wash we now have a billboard advertising FREE Summer Meals in New Haven!

At the BIG D; School Nutrition Association’s Annual National Conference

For the past few days I attended the School Nutrition Association’s Annual National Conference (ANC) in Dallas, Texas.

The saying is true; everything is bigger in Texas including the Dallas Farmer’s Market! This Market is open every day from 8am-6pm and was LOADED with beautiful Texas fresh fruits and vegetables. The market was a short walk from the convention center and well worth the trip. I sampled super sweet fruits and it was great to see fresh shelled peas and beans for sale. It was also a great opportunity to get some good real food. While the food show at the conference had some fantastic real food offerings a lot of the companies still had VERY processed foods that I was not interested in looking at, never mind sampling…bubble gum flavored apples should say it all!

A few of the companies had items that were especially exciting. Chobani Greek yogurt now makes a kid’s version; Have Your Cake and Eat it Too Bakery makes delicious Spinach Yam Muffins and Squash Muffins, a great way to get vegetables into children’s food; Crunchfuls is a cereal company that manufactures cereals with lentils, beans and peas, Fantastic!

I had the opportunity to share the stage with three amazing chefs to speak about Chefs Move to Schools. (Left to Right) Chef Sam Kass of the White House, Chef Tony Geraci of Baltimore City Schools, Chef Brad Trudeau of Dallas Schools and me (in the sandals!). The School Nutrition Association invited the four of us to speak to over 300 people about one of the First Lady’s newest Let’s Move programs, Chefs Move to Schools. The people in the room asked many questions and our presentation was very informative and well received. I spoke about FEED USA's commitment to Chefs Move to Schools...(FEED USA bag in lower right corner of picture) more info coming soon.

One of the highlights of the conference was having the opportunity to walk the food show floor with three amazing people from Food & Nutrition Services of the USDA, Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton, Deputy Administrator Audrey Rowe(In middle of picture below with Sam Kass and I) & Special Assistant Norah Deluhery; and Chef Kass of the White House. While Congress authorizes the money and writes the laws these ladies and their counterparts at USDA do the leg work. While spending time with them at the conference we educated each other on our respective positions regarding Child Nutrition. This was great time to emphasize to them for the need to eliminate most processed foods from schools and focus on real foods. While it was like preaching to the choir, it also allowed me to strongly emphasize the need for serious additional funding. The current administration understands the importance of school nutrition as evidenced by the First Lady’s creation of Let’s Move.

While at ANC I attended many educational sessions which I will share in another BLOG post along with some great news from Capitol Hill about Child Nutrition Re-Authorization.

Summer Meals in New Haven Billboard!

Thanks to the ad space that was generously donated by Personal Touch Car Wash we were able to secure a billboard to advertise FREE Summer Meals in New Haven. The proof for the billboard is below:

Summer Feeding in New Haven for Children is FREE

Hungry Kids and the Summer unfortunately go hand in hand. Not ALL children looking forward to the school year being finished. Despite not having to cram for tests, do homework and the ability to sleep late in the morning, summertime also opens up a severe problem to hungry children. LACK OF FOOD.

According to a report in May 2009 by Feeding America, hunger in Connecticut average 105,806 (13%) children under 18 years of age are food insecure. This number is staggering but does not surprise me because 24.2% of people in New Haven live below the poverty line and 18.1% of households with children in Hartford have experienced food hardship between 2008-2009. (The national average household income of a family living below the poverty line is less than $21,834 per year!).

In New Haven we offer 36 open sites, 7 closed sites and this year we will be feeding Hamden children in 4 of their schools, all closed sites. An open site is a site that any child 18 and under can go to receive a free breakfast or lunch. A closed site is a site where only the children enrolled in a summer program there have access to the meals. Summer meals in New Haven and Hamden starts 7/6/10 and ends 8/6/10.

For a list of the site locations for New Haven and Hamden CLICK HERE. For the list of locations throughout the state click here.

Do you know a location in New Haven that has a large percentage of children without a meal site nearby? Email me at timothy.cipriano@new-haven.k12.ct.us and we will check on the eligibility requirements to see if we can open the site to feed these children. Please email us the street address for the potential site.

Because many school disticts in CT do not offer summer meals to children the demand for food from Food Banks rises significantly. In the map below the light blue denotes the towns with Summer Feeding Programs in 2009; the white area of the map are the areas with ZERO summer meals. Click on the picture for a full view.