On Monday, February 8th, after many months of planning, Second Harvest’s Kids Cafe Afterschool Supper Program began offering freshly prepared nutritious meals and snacks to children at 4 Orange County Parks and Recreation Centers.
Deliveries of supper style meals and snacks arrived at Capehart, Willow, Bithlo, and Barnett Park Recreation Centers. Three additional county sites, Silver Star, Lockhart and Orlo Vista are scheduled to start in early March.
Second Harvest Food Bank has been serving Kids Cafes since 1993, and currently sponsors 18 locations in three counties, reaching an average of 1,250 children daily. Since its inception, over 1.7 million meals have been served, over 33% of those in the last three years.
Meals and snacks attract children to after school programs where they can be safe, active, and engaged. The food provides energy and focus so that children can participate fully in enrichment activities offered at all centers.
The new sites will operate Monday through Fridays while school is in session and will continue to serve children year after year. Sustainability, the result of private and public support, as well as efficient meal production, will ensure that the program continues to benefit youth in our region for many years to come.
Our Meals for Good production program prepares thousands of meals daily for Kids Cafes and Head Start Centers. Control over menu design, delivery, temperatures and packaging allows us to maintain the highest nutritional standards while at the same time catering to the preferences of youngsters.
Special thanks to our board member, Kim Mowatt, for her hard work and persistence in nurturing the relationship with Orange County, and to Kyle Kent, Orange County Parks and Recreation Division, for helping streamline the process.
For a map of our Kids Cafes, follow this link: Kids Cafes Afterschool Meal Centers – 2016