[kids-lib] Now is the time to start thinking about food for next summer!

[Katie Anderson]

The following article about the Summer Food Service Program was posted on ALA’s Association for Library Services to Children recently. Several Oregon libraries recently started participating in the Summer Food Service Program, offering free food to children and teens in conjunction with their summer reading program. If you haven’t tried it and are interested in trying it next year, read the following article and attend OLA’s Children’s Services Division (CSD) Fall Workshop on Saturday, October 29th to learn more. The CSD Fall Workshop will include a session about the Summer Food Service Program so you can hear how it works in other libraries and ask all your questions!—Katie

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Make the Case to Serve Meals @ Your Library<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AlscBlog/~3/m1WNwO2GHik/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 11 Sep 2016 09:01 PM PDT

If you haven’t dipped your toe into serving meals at your library already, now is the perfect time to do it! In June, Amy Koester blogged about Combating Summer Food Insecurity at the Library<http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2016/06/summer-food-insecurity-library/> but it might have been too late for you to put things into place for this past summer. Never fear, here are some tips to getting started with your planning for Summer 2017!

Not sure how to make the case for serving meals at your library? Check out the following talking points, provided by Maria Trivisonno, Children’s Librarian at Cuyahoga County Public Library’s Warrensville Branch:
[Photo courtesy of Cuyahoga County Public Library]Photo courtesy of Cuyahoga County Public Library
§ Providing meals increases civic engagement, and shows the library to be a community resource hub.
§ Offering meals builds a sense of community, as library staff will learn the names of more kids who already visit the library often.
§ It expands partnerships with other community-focused groups.
§ Serving meals helps with lifelong learning, as students can be more successful at school when they don’t have to worry about their next meal.

When advocating for meals at your library, you’ll also be fulfilling the ALSC Core Competency<http://www.ala.org/alsc/edcareeers/alsccorecomps> of “Outreach and Advocacy” through the formation of partnerships to overcome barriers for children in your community!

Food insecurity doesn’t just happen during the summer months and libraries are starting to move beyond just serving meals in the summer. Last fall was the start of the Kid’s Café program which expanded Cuyahoga County Public Library’s partnership with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. From October 2015 to May 2016 the Warrensville Branch staff served 533 unique people and 2991 dinners which means almost 3000 times a child didn’t go to bed hungry.

On the West Coast, San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library is piloting an After School Suppers program this fall. Says Manager of Youth Services Christy Estrovitz, “While we’ve offered summer lunches for the past three years, we’re really excited to make sure youth have the opportunity for a healthy dinner.”

If you are considering serving meals at multiple locations having a central person to initially set things up is a good idea. At Cuyahoga County Public Library, the Youth Programming Manager, Julia Boxler tackles this role.

Ready to give it a shot? Here are some additional resources to check out:
§ ALA Libraries Transform: Engagement Video<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0h6O-Mq8_g>
§ FRAC: Food, Research and Action Center<http://frac.org/>
§ Summer Food Services Program, USDA<http://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/summer-food-service-program>
§ Summer Meal Programming at the Library, Public Libraries Online<http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2015/03/summer-meal-programming-at-the-library/>
[Photo provided by Cuyahoga County Public Library]Photo provided by Cuyahoga County Public Library

Mary Schreiber, Youth Collection Development Specialist at Cuyahoga County Public Library, is writing this post for the Public Awareness Committee. She can be reached at mschreiber at cuyahogalibrary.org<mailto:mschreiber at cuyahogalibrary.org>.

The post Make the Case to Serve Meals @ Your Library<http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2016/09/make-case-serve-meals-library/> appeared first on ALSC Blog<http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog>.





Katie Anderson, MLS, Youth Services Consultant
Library Support and Development Services<http://www.oregon.gov/osl/LD/pages/index.aspx>
Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301
katie.anderson at state.or.us<mailto:katie.anderson at state.or.us>, 503-378-2528
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