'We try to reach people where they're at:' Mobile lunch program brings free food to north side neighborhoods | Politics and Elections
On a sunny summer weekday, a 15-passenger van pulled into the Woodland Park apartment complex in north Madison.
A bunch of kids stood on the curb, assembled in a pseudo line, waiting for the van, excited and jostling for a better position.
“You guys got Cheetos?” a little boy yelled out.
The kids know the drill: the van comes every day to bring them free lunch and they wait as the volunteers set up the day's offerings: first carrots, then yogurt, crackers, a fruit snack, sandwich and juice boxes.
The service is from The River Food Pantry as part of its Madison Urban Nutritional Children’s Hotspot (MUNCH) program. When school’s not in session, MUNCH delivers lunch to kids eight north side low-income neighborhoods who might otherwise go without.
THE NEED: ‘THIS IS ALL WE HAVE’
The MUNCH program started last summer and delivered over 10,000 lunches in 2016. This year, they’ve added more neighborhoods to their route and have already delivered over 30,000, with an average of about 485 a day.
MUNCH gives food to anyone who asks, which sometimes means adults, seniors and people with disabilities.
They run on weekends during the school year and seven days a week in the summer. They come even in the bitter cold because “no matter what the weather, we always get some kids out,” said Julie McCoubrey, lunch program manager.
Jenny and Andy Czerkas founded The River, a food and clothing pantry, in 2006. Parents at the pantry told them there weren’t a lot of food programs on weekends, Jenny said, a problem that was compounded by parents who had to work weekend jobs.
The MUNCH volunteers have seen the need. One day, McCoubrey saw three kids hanging back from the food.
“Do you guys want lunch?” the volunteers asked.
The kids took the food, said thank you, and ran home. The volunteers were loading up to leave when one of the kids ran back to them.
He grabbed McCoubrey’s hand, put something in her palm and folded her fingers over it, looking directly in her eyes the whole time.
“This is all we have,” he said, and ran off again. McCoubrey opened her hand to find a nickel.
PACK A LUNCH
To make the meals, volunteers come to The River four times a week. On a Monday morning, volunteers formed mini-assembly lines along tables in the dining area.
One of the volunteers, Jim Larson, slathered peanut butter on a bun. Mike Esch, another retired teacher, took care of the jelly, and two high school students at the end of the table slipped the sandwiches in bags.
A retired kindergarten teacher, Larson saw families struggle with food insecurity. When it was their turn to buy a snack for the class, he was worried about what they would sacrifice at home, he said. Once he retired, he and Esch started looking for an opportunity to help feed underprivileged kids.
Plus, they have fun with it. Esch likes to turn production into a competition, Larson said.
“Usually music is blaring and we can dance,” Esch added.
Carole Yngsdahl, a retired day care operator, shows up to all four prep sessions a week, which take about two-and-a-half hours each, although she admits that she “occasionally misses a Saturday.”
Her motivation to volunteer so frequently is simple.
“I don’t like hungry kids,” she said. “Some things you believe strongly in.”
ON THE ROAD
After the sandwiches are assembled, CapriSuns are packed in coolers, fruit snacks and crackers are put in large boxes for easy distribution, and everything is loaded into the van. One staff member from the River and three volunteers clamber in after the supplies and begin their daily route through the neighborhoods.
The first stop, Oak Park Terrace, is fairly new, so MUNCH is still working on getting the word out, McCoubrey said. It’s a trailer park, and volunteers often see seniors come with grandchildren they watch during the day.
The stop may be new, but some kids already know the routine and descend on the van in seconds, accompanied by a man leaning on a cane. A little girl in a purple tutu is so comfortable with the exchange that she marches up to the back of the van to help unload.
After volunteers set up, kids and adults go down the line, holding their bags open and collecting food for themselves and, often, their families at home. Only about a dozen people show up, but the end tally shows that 44 people were fed that day.
There’s no rationing here. The volunteers let the kids tell them how much they want. The River used to pre-assemble the lunches, but it led to a lot of wasted food, McCoubrey said, because kids didn’t eat food they didn’t like.
The grab-and-go system also made for limited face-to-face time with the kids. Now, volunteers can ask kids how they're doing and work to build community, McCoubrey said.
There’s one girl who has come to the van every single day since MUNCH started, but it was six months before she even said hello to the volunteers, McCoubrey said. Now, they know her name and she’s opened up a bit.
She’s 14 and said that the first day she saw the food truck she thought, “Wait, we get free lunches?” Now, her favorites are the hot dogs and hamburgers. Her little brother is particularly enthused about the drinkable yogurt included in today’s lineup.
“Yogurt! I love these things. I’ve only ever seen them in commercials!” he said.
Fifteen minutes later, it’s time to move on to the next stop.
SCALING UP
Feedback from parents has been great, Czerkas said, and residents of other neighborhoods are calling and asking for MUNCH.
In the next year, The River wants to expand MUNCH to all the north side neighborhoods with need, Czerkas said, and eventually to other organizations and areas of the city.
The idea is that eventually, The River could keep assembling the food, but then outsource distribution to the neighborhoods. That’s already happened for Ridgecrest apartments. MUNCH delivers food to Danielle Washington, a Neighborhood Navigator for the Northside Planning Council, and she takes care of distribution.
Jenny Czerkas like the delivery model because it’s more dignifying, she said.
“We try to reach people where they’re at,” Czerkas said, likening the MUNCH van to a food cart or truck.
And that’s what the kids call it. They yell "Food truck’s here!” when the van rolls onto the street.
“We’re the food rock stars of the neighborhood,” McCoubrey joked.
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