Local kids have benefitted from the Gulp and Gallop summer lunch program these past years, sponsored by the Woods County Coalition for Healthy Living. The program, which ended June 22, provides free food (from the Regional Food Bank) and entertainment to any child in Woods County who wants to attend. The program has been gaining traction since its creation.
The program's site coordinator, Nicki Chaffee, said the biggest criticism the program had was that it didn't cover the entire gap before school begins in the fall.
“I thought I would personally take on filling the gap,” Chaffee said, “but then I reached out to the community, and the Woods County Coalition wanted to continue.”
This program uses funds donated to the Woods County Coalition's summer lunch program. The Regional Food Bank provides the lunches for Gulp and Gallop, but Chaffee wanted to be clear that fresh food is being provided for this program, not food remaining from the Gulp and Gallop program. Volunteers spend their time making sandwiches and bagging sack lunches that have all been purchased through Alva's Market with the funds donated for the event. The sack lunches contain sandwiches, fruit cups, bottled water, chips and cookies. Organizations or individuals that donated to the program included the Alva Walmart, Kathy Watkins, Todd Hamilton and Brandon Sherman of Farmer's Insurance, Tandy Keenan, and the Bill Johnson Correctional Center's Offender Alliance Fund.
Members of the Alva community and various organizations volunteered to help with the “filling of the gap,” which is being called the Summer Lunch program, for now.
“The community response has been great, and the fact that people have stepped up to volunteer,” remarked Chaffee. “We are really blessed with an abundance in Alva, and the people we have that are able to are willing to give back.”
Volunteers have included Northwest Family Service Center staff, Dot Tyree and the Wheeler Bros. Grain staff, Nicki Chaffee, Lenny Reed, Kay Loges, Donna Jordan, Verla Voghts, the Braudrick family, the Church of God, Tammy and Megan Brown, Margaret Barton and Vanna Shea.
The Regional Food Bank suggests “going where the kids are,” so after some discussion, the Alva public swimming pool was picked as the location to serve the lunches. Volunteers sit outside the city pool to distribute the free lunches to the public. Attending the pool, however, is not a requirement to getting a free lunch.
At first, due to lack of awareness, and pool attendance being a little slow, the program wasn't distributing as many lunches as it could have, but now that's changed. Volunteers have been posting on social media, Chaffee ran an ad in the Newsgram, and Big Slick Graphics (Lance Harzman) donated a sign that now sits outside the pool. The volunteers are making 20 sack lunches per day and distributing most of those now.
“I think the point is not so much the numbers, but the fact that it's available,” said Chaffee. “If you hear anyone say that your children don't have anything to eat in Alva, I think you should just say, well there's always something available.”
To Chaffee, the biggest reward is seeing the community support. “I think just the fact that we got the program started,” she said. “You know, It's not about the numbers; it's about the fact that there are people willing to step up and take care of the kids and families in the community. And that's been great.”
She cited awareness as being the biggest challenge. “It's just getting the word out. We know there are hungry kids, so it's just making that connection. And if anyone has any ideas, please let us know.”
The program will continue running Monday through Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. through the end of July, so drop by the Alva public swimming pool parking lot to pick up some free sack lunches!
Those interested in this or any other community project can call 580-748-2730 for more information. To donate, checks can be written to the Community Foundation of Oklahoma (write “Woods County Coalition” on the memo line), and mailed or delivered to Northwest Family Services at 620 Flynn, Alva, Oklahoma, 73717.
Reader Comments(0)