July 2, 2018
Samantha Rendon, Marketing Specialist
“For many parent’s and children, they depend on school lunches in the summer.”
The second Wednesday of every month, a member of the San Antonio Food Bank’s Nutrition, Health and Wellness team spends an hour teaching children about fresh fruits and vegetables grown at the Food Bank Urban Farm. “The kids love it when they come,” Brigette, a daycare provider at Good Samaritan Center says. “They get to see, touch and taste new things they probably would never get at home.”
The children enjoy trying new ideas with food. Wednesday’s menu item is fruit pizza with a watermelon base, vanilla yogurt and strawberries and bananas on top. After the children eat their morning snack, lunch is served in containers assembled at the Food Bank with chicken Alfredo, carrots, mandarin oranges and complete with something to drink. Children under 2 years get full fat milk, kids 2 years and over receive 2% milk and those with dietary restrictions get soy milk.
“I love that the Food Bank is able to accommodate all the children’s needs,” Brigette says, “whether it be lactose intolerance or low potassium the Food Bank works with us to help make sure they are nourished properly.” Brigette stresses the importance of nutrition in the classroom and how it affects the children’s moods and work routines in the classroom. “Sometimes in the mornings kids will come in cranky and fussy and cannot concentrate,” she says, “and my first thought is that they haven’t eaten and are hungry.”
For many parents and children, they depend on school lunches in the summer and at Good Samaritan they never say no when a child asks for seconds. “For most kids snack time at 3:00 PM may be the last meal they get when they leave here. Or it may be the last nutritious meal they get for the day,” she says.
*Good Samaritan is also a Kids Café site supported by the Red Nose Day Fund.. This partnership with the San Antonio Food Bank provides meals and snacks as nutritious and filling alternatives as part of the after school program during the year.
There are 200,000 children in San Antonio during the summer months that are left undernourished and hungry. To address this issue, the San Antonio Food Bank created the Million Summer Meals Program to provide children with free meals throughout the summer. With your help we are able to help feed the need in our community. Learn more about the Million Summer Meals program.
