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Serving Meals: YMCA Summer Food Program Serves More Than 35,000 Meals

YMCA staff members Ray and Kim Whitacre load a YMCA food van in preparation for delivering meals to one of the 13 food drop locations across the city of Jamestown, including expansion sites into more rural areas such as Falconer, Frewsburg, and Busti. Submitted photo

The Jamestown YMCA has concluded its summer food program, and the numbers are on the rise, according to YMCA officials.

According to John Barber, the chief executive officer of the Y, the summer meal program served 35,527 meals at 13 locations across the city of Jamestown as well as Falconer, Frewsburg, and Busti locations from July 1 through Aug. 30. The program served 33,166 at 16 locations in 2024.

The Y served meals at fewer locations, but the demand for meals has been continuing to grow from the program’s first inception, many years ago.

“We served at fewer sites because we coordinated with Jamestown Public Schools, who have jumped in to help with the summer meal effort by offering three meal sites at summer learning locations the Y had served in 2023. This allowed these sites to get onsite-prepared hot meals from the school’s excellent food service team. This JPS assistance with summer meal programming allowed the YMCA to pivot our meal service model to expand access to a relatively new USDA-approved non-congregate service model available in ‘rural designated’ locations, allowing us to serve Grab N’ Go meals,” said Barber. “Last year, we had just two locations approved for this meal service model. Seeing the success of these sites in 2023, we expanded this model to include all our seven open sites for 2024. Traditional summer food service models required sponsors to serve meals only to children who came to a site and stayed to eat at that location. This year, we expanded a model of Grab N’ Go meals, which allows families to pick up meals for all the children in their households. Each day, our open sites provided breakfast and lunch, which the children or parents could pick up on behalf of the children in their households.”

Barber reported the shift in the way the YMCA serves meals as part of the upward growth of the program and shifting demographics in its service area.

A child enjoys a meal at one of the Jamestown Area YMCA’s many summer food program locations. The Y’s meal program served more than 35, 527 meals this year at 16 locations, to include rural expansion sites in Frewsburg, Falconer and Busti. Submitted photos

“This resulted in a major shift in both the number of children and meals being served at our open sites, where any child, 18 and under, can receive meals. This major shift is demonstrated by looking at an example location like Lillian Dickson Park, which averaged service to 20 children per day in 2023, but grew to an average of 54 children per day when changing to a Grab N’ Go meals model for 2024. With this site being able to serve both breakfast and lunch, the number of meals served rose from 823 in 2023 to 4,958 meals in 2024.”

Barber believes the common sense approach the Y has taken, and by making the availability for meals eligible for families, has led to the dramatic increase in the usage of the Y’s summer meal program. Furthermore, as the Jamestown Y leads the charge in the restructuring of the summer meal programs – it has garnered national attention.

“We believe the dramatic shift in the number of children and meals being served directly results from a common-sense approach to making meals accessible to families. This change in the meal service model is currently restricted to rural communities only, but according to USDA designations, all our region qualifies as ‘rural.’ The Jamestown YMCA was among a handful to pilot a couple of sites across the state in 2023, and this year, our meal programs caught the attention of a national anti-hunger-focused advocacy organization called No Kid Hungry,” he said. “The Jamestown YMCA’s expansion of non-congregate meals in rural communities will be featured by the national childhood hunger advocacy organization No Kid Hungry. A film crew from No Kid Hungry came to capture YMCA meal programs in action and interview staff and families who were being impacted. No Kid Hungry will use the video and photographic footage to propel its national advocacy efforts by sharing widely the impact the Jamestown YMCA is making in our community.”

The mission of the Y’s food program is to eliminate childhood hunger. Meals include grains, fruits and vegetables and proper serving sizes to encourage healthy eating. Through the YMCA, kids are offered safe eating spaces and taught nutritional eating.

Additionally, Barber said, “A member of our summer meal team has been invited to present this impact directly at the No Kid Hungry: Summer Nutrition Summit, which will be held in Dallas this coming December.”

Food insecurities are a national health issue. Additionally, Chautauqua County has a higher than average rate of food hunger when compared to the national and New York state rates.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, The Summer Nutritional Program for Kids (SUN) has been expanded. Families now have more ways to get their kids the nutrition they need in summer when school meals aren’t available. USDA’s SUN programs offer convenient, flexible options.

A 2022-2023 USDA report found the following statistics related to food insecurities.

-Nearly 30 million children participate in USDA’s school breakfast and lunch programs during an average school day.

– 44.2 million people lived in households that had difficulty getting enough food to feed everyone in 2022, up from 33.8 million people the year prior.

-Families included more than 13 million children experiencing food insecurity, a jump of nearly 45 % from 2021.

-In its report, the USDA found that nearly 7 million households were struggling finically so much that they had to skip meals at times because there wasn’t enough food to go around. Almost all of the households said they couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals. In 381,000 households with children, kids also experienced the pangs of hunger – skipping meals or going the whole day without eating. The USDA noted this could have significant health consequences, especially for the kids.

According to stacker.com, Chautauqua County has higher than average numbers regarding food insecurities compared to the New York state averages.

Chautauqua County food insecurity

– Insecurity rate: 12.4%

– Insecure population: 15,850 people

– Cost per meal: $3.70

– Annual food budget shortfall: $10,361,000

New York state food insecurity

– Insecurity rate: 11.4%

– Insecure population: 2,265,160 people

– Cost per meal: $3.78

– Annual food budget shortfall: $1,514,465,000

For more information visit thejamestownymca.org or email ceojamestownymce.org

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