Summer Food Program

3^nd ANNUAL SUMMER FOOD SUMMIT
Summary Report

October 2001

On October 24^th, Summer Food Service Program sponsors, administering agencies and advocates from across the state came together in Syracuse for the 3^rd Annual Summer Food Summit. It was a great forum for sharing experiences and problems encountered this past summer, and for brainstorming ideas for increasing participation and improving program operation.

John Magnarelli from USDA’s Northeast Regional FNS Office kicked off this year’s summit with the exciting announcement that Eric Bost, new USDA-FNS Undersecretary, has made the expansion of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) a top priority for his administration! This top priority status has resulted in a Northeast Regional Office Summer Food Action Plan for teaming up with state agencies and advocates to increase program participation and availability. Next, Paula Tyner-Doyle from the NY State Education Department (SED) gave us some more good news — that SED is preparing for full SFSP administration in the summer of 2003. This means that SED will become the sole administering agency for non-profit organizations, camps, schools and government entities. Following these announcements, Paula then provided a review of SFSP 2001, reporting that 6 new sponsors stepped up to the Summer Food plate with 32 new locations where children were able to get breakfast and lunch. She also reported that site reviews revealed only a few minor program violations, but a great deal of sponsor commitment to feeding children. And, New York’s Addison Central School District is a 2001 National Summer Sunshine Award Recipient, AGAIN!

Addison Schools received the 2001 Summer Sunshine Award for their coordination of exciting activities for children by involving a variety of agencies, including the 4-H, the Wellness Council, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and many community volunteers, such as local legislators and retired teachers. These children live in a rural trailer park where families lack transportation and local organized summer activities, so Addison’s SFSP has had a large impact on this community. In describing her commitment to the SFSP, Christine Wallace of Addison said, "…it takes a village to raise a child. We consider ourselves an important part of the village of Addison and take our responsibility to our children seriously. For the children of Cameron in the summer months, the food service IS the village!"

Following USDA and SED opening remarks, sponsors had the unique opportunity to hear how another state does it, as Joanne Heidekamp from Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger provided us with a view of Vermont’s experience in expanding SFSP. Joanne spoke of the demographic similarity between Vermont and upstate New York, with large rural areas containing pockets of poverty. A characteristic barrier to implementing SFSP in these areas is that free/reduced-price meal eligibility data at local schools does not always reveal the extent to which children are hungry in a rural community. In order to get meals to these children when school is out of session, Joanne explained what it takes to establish enrolled SFSP sites in these communities where school data does not allow for open site operation — collaboration.

While working at the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, Joanne has convened multiple community meetings with one agenda topic — how are we going to get our children the nutrition they need this summer? Present at these meetings were representatives of church outreach programs, recreation departments, youth development groups, local government offices, food pantries, crime prevention organizations and other community entities. Together, the representatives were able to discuss what resources and time they could commit to SFSP, and jointly they were able to establish a variety of enrolled sites.

Throughout the rest of the summit, camp sponsors, non-profit organizations, schools, government entities and administering agencies participated in two of four roundtable sessions — Menu Planning, Staffing & Financial Management Tips, Site Activity Planning & Nutrition Ed, and Community Gardens & Local Farms. Each session included feature speakers, a question and answer period, and time for everyone to discuss obstacles encountered and possible resolutions. During these sessions, sponsors and advocates also presented administering agencies with suggestions for resources that will allow for easier program operation. For those who were unable to attend this year’s summit, a summary of the reporting-out period that followed each roundtable session is provided below.

MENU PLANNING

Kim Corcoran, food service director at Sherburne-Earlville Central School District, conducted the menu planning presentation and emphasized that while SFSP meals are free to children, menus still need to be interesting enough to draw children to your site. Throughout the presentation, Kim shared her low-cost secrets to creative menu planning by referring sponsors to the many resources available to assist in menu planning. For instance, Kim brought her favorite catalogs containing a large variety of menu theme ideas and corresponding promotional items, and pointed to USDA’s Team Nutrition website as a great on-line source for menu ideas. She suggested that sponsors tie in to the local fast-food culture and offer menu items that mimic popular chain menus in the area, and she encouraged sponsors to give children a good selection. Kim creates a 5-week rotation menu so that children do not become bored with the meal schedule, and so that rushing to plan next week’s menu is not an issue. Again tying in to the culture of those attending SFSP, Kim encouraged sponsors to follow Sesame Street’s example and have a letter or color of the week. Then, serve meals that include menu items starting with that particular letter or color — children love it and it provides sponsors with a great way to introduce children to new kinds of foods.

In terms of obstacles encountered and proposed solutions, sponsors mentioned that it is difficult to be creative with menus when meals need to be shipped to satellite sites, or when they have to be prepared with commodity goods. As a result, sponsors suggested that best practices be collected from school food service staff and SFSP sponsors using commodity goods in their daily menus. Also, sponsors asked that a resource book be created providing sponsors with the contact information of sponsors in their surrounding neighborhoods and counties. This would allow sponsors to network with one another, to share ideas for menu creation, and to address other SFSP issues.

STAFFING & MANAGEMENT TIPS

Judy Pellerite and Mary Lou Coppola from the Buffalo Board of Education were presenters for the staffing and management tips session, and shared their experience as the sponsor of approximately 200 sites in the City of Buffalo. First of all, Judy and Mary Lou stressed the importance of holding a comprehensive staff training session at the beginning of the summer, and of providing all staff with a detailed list of responsibilities. The Buffalo Board of Ed then provided sponsors with a model organizational chart designed to clarify SFSP staff roles, and emphasized the need to provide additional technical assistance to sites throughout the summer. In addition to a thorough training, the Board of Ed speakers also told sponsors to "think partnerships" in order to ensure that resources are available if problems should arise.

After this summary of management strategies, the Staffing & Financial Management Tips roundtable session was then dedicated to a discussion of obstacles encountered by sponsors in summer 2001 with Buffalo Board of Ed and other sponsors providing insight and possible solutions. Sponsors found SFSP staff training to be a major obstacle, and some found it difficult to generate staff commitment to the need for SFSP meals. Other sponsors stated that it is often difficult to find staff for the summer season, and still others found it difficult to collect the necessary, completed paperwork from site staff. The Buffalo Board of Ed reiterated their emphasis on a thorough staff training to prevent difficulties in site operation and administration, and shared copies of their checklist of responsibilities for SFSP staff. Other sponsors also suggested that site paperwork collection could be made easier with color-coded forms, more easily identifiable for site staff. In general, all sponsors felt that more technical assistance from administering agencies would be helpful, including the desire for development of a training video depicting successful programs in action, both on the administrative and operation end.

Sponsors also stated that safety continues to be a program barrier, with schools reluctant to open their doors to children in the community, and with outdoor SFSP sites having difficulty ensuring the safety of children. In terms of suggested solutions, sponsors decided that an effective way to deal with these safety issues is to form partnerships with the community police/crime prevention agencies, and to meet with City Councils or Town Boards to develop a plan to address safety issues. Another sponsor then shared her related problem encountered in establishing additional SFSP sites — the question of who will be responsible for liability/insurance coverage for these sites. Sponsors suggested requesting that the city or town assume liability for SFSP sites under their current insurance plan.

SITE ACTIVITY PLANNING

Christine Wallace of Addison Central Schools, winner of both the 2000 and 2001 Summer Sunshine Award, presented her techniques for planning SFSP site activities. Stressing the importance of beginning to plan SFSP activity schedules early, Christine explained that she gets started by generating a list of potential partners and presenters to work with, including sports teams, library book mobiles, crafts programs, gym teachers, health/nutrition-related agencies, insurance companies, corporations, etc. Then in early May, she sends an outreach letter to this list of possible presenters. Based on the responses, she creates a calendar to keep track of scheduled presentations, and is sure to always have back-up plans. In addition, she mentioned that working with corporations is a good way to procure fun promotional items — NYSEG brought pencils to the site for children. Finally, Christine recommends sending thank you cards/posters to presenters, and she always lets SFSP children sign them. This helps to ensure that presenters feel appreciated and increases the likelihood that they will return next summer.

Christine then also stressed the importance of involving parents in SFSP, even though sponsors can only feed the children. To do so, Christine makes sure that parents are aware of what activities and menu items are going to be available by providing them with a calendar with menus on one side and scheduled activities on the other. She also included parents in the fun by providing activities that were entertaining for both parents and children, such as Cornell Cooperative Extension cooking sessions.

In discussing problems encountered by sponsors in 2001, sponsors stated that they need more staff or volunteers to do activities with children. Other sponsors said that they’re having a problem getting the children to attend. In response to this, Christine and other sponsors restated the importance of inviting parents and having activities for them as well, and of establishing relationships with community members to generate a volunteer list. Also, sponsors asked for an increase in reimbursement rates to cover the staff time needed to organize activities at sites.

COMMUNITY GARDENS & LOCAL FARMS

In discussing how and why to team up with local farms, Tracy Farrell from Cornell Cooperative Extension pointed out that local farms provide better products at better prices, and suggested that community supported agriculture is a great avenue for getting produce. For those of us who don’t know where the farms are or what products are available, we can call Cornell Cooperative Extension at (607) 255-2620. Tracy also stressed that it is important to talk to kids to find out what they will eat. Then, presenter Geneva Hayden — a community gardener — told sponsors that starting a community garden or linking up with horticulture programs is a great idea. She said that incorporating fresh fruits/vegetables into activities and field trips gets children excited about eating well. For more information about establishing community gardens, sponsors can contact Hunger Action Network at (518) 434-7371.

Sponsors discussed the fact that one barrier to linking up with community gardens and local farms is that a lot of produce is not available until early fall, and other sponsors mentioned that they often have a lot of canned goods or commodities that they need to utilize and don’t look to farms for products. Sponsors also cited transportation of goods to be a problem because sites are often far apart and getting produce from farms to sites would be difficult. Another barrier discussed was the labor and preparation involved in preparing fresh produce for SFSP use, along with the lack of storage or kitchen space and the subsequent difficulties involved in getting children to eat produce that they’re not accustomed to.

Sponsors enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the potential of incorporating NY produce in SFSP menus, and while it was agreed that the barriers are significant, this session was a great first step toward identifying opportunities to link up with local farms.

Thank you to USDA-FNS and the New York State Education Department for their support of our Summer Food Summits - creating this excellent networking opportunity for Summer Food Service Program sponsors. Also, thank you to all of the sponsors and speakers that participated in this 2001 Summit.

This report was written by Lisa Frank, Child Nutrition Program Specialist at the Nutrition Consortium of NYS. Please direct any questions, comments or suggestions to Lisa at HungerCHLN@aol.com, or call (518) 436-8757x16.

In the archives: The 2nd Annual summer Food Summit