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Food Depository 'Lunch Bus' Raises Awareness of Summer Food Insecurity

By Darryl Holliday | July 28, 2014 8:41am
 The green lunch bus is invaluable to her family’s health, said Willanda Vaughn, an independent mother of four, including 4-year-old Lashaunte Smith, who waited in line along with nearly a dozen other children for the daily sandwich, milk and fruit meal.
The green lunch bus is invaluable to her family’s health, said Willanda Vaughn, an independent mother of four, including 4-year-old Lashaunte Smith, who waited in line along with nearly a dozen other children for the daily sandwich, milk and fruit meal.
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DNainfo/Darryl Holliday

HUMBOLDT PARK — A mobile food truck aimed at countering food insecurity among the city’s kids made its regular stop on the Northwest Side Friday, the last day a group of volunteer canvassers were scheduled to knock on doors to spread awareness.

Organizers at the Greater Chicago Food Depository say they could feed hundreds more kids along its three program routes if only more parents knew about the free service, spanning 21 sites in more than 10 Chicago neighborhoods.

The depository’s Lunch Bus stops in each location throughout the city every weekday, including the Richard M. Daley Library in Humboldt Park, a neighborhood where 28 percent of children are food insecure — slightly above the citywide average of 25 percent.

 One of those volunteers is 19-year-old Eboni Watson, who battled homelessness and food insecurity first-hand in Grand Crossing. She too advantage of free meals since she was 7 before she later began working with Community Organizing and Family Issues to help feed the city’s youth.
One of those volunteers is 19-year-old Eboni Watson, who battled homelessness and food insecurity first-hand in Grand Crossing. She too advantage of free meals since she was 7 before she later began working with Community Organizing and Family Issues to help feed the city’s youth.
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DNainfo/Darryl Holliday

Food Depository coordinator Paul Morello defines food insecurity as "the number of children who don’t know where their next meal will come from."

The green lunch bus is invaluable to her family’s health, said Willanda Vaughn, an independent mother of four, including 4-year-old Lashaunte Smith, who waited in line along with nearly a dozen other children for the daily sandwich, milk and fruit meal.

"They took a burden off of me with this lunch," said Vaughn, a Humboldt Park resident who walks a few blocks to the Lunch Bus stop daily. It’s very helpful — my kids look forward to coming every day."

The bus feeds about 1,000 children a day despite "the awareness gap," Morello said — the Food Depository’s food service job training programs provide meals for the volunteer-driven bus and could feed more if more families knew their neighborhood stop schedule. 

"During summer the kids lose their school meals, so the bus gives children meals they otherwise might not have," Morello said. "But our biggest challenge during the summer is awareness."

Of the 825,364 students in Illinois eligible for free and reduced-price meals during the school year, only 1 in 9 take advantage of free summer meals programs, according to the Food Depository. In order to fill that gap, advocacy group Community Organizing and Family Issues canvasses high-need neighborhoods, passed out fliers with information on local meal resources for four hours each day.

One of those volunteers is 19-year-old Eboni Watson, who battled homelessness and food insecurity first-hand in Grand Crossing. She began taking advantage of free meals since at age 7 before she later began working with Community Organizing and Family Issues to help feed the city’s youth.

"It feels good because I understand the struggle," she said. "I know that one small thing can help change the economic situation for a person. I’m happy to be able to help."

Though Friday was the last day of canvassing on the Northwest Side, volunteers, including Watson, said they knocked on thousands of doors to help spread the word — organizers at the Food Depository hope word continues to spread among families along the Lunch Bus routes.

Neighborhoods serviced by the Lunch Bus include Logan Square, Belmont-Cragin, Austin, Humboldt Park, West Garfield Park, South Lawndale, Pilsen, McKinley Park, Brighton Park, West Lawn, West Englewood and several suburban locations through August.

 

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