Our first ever Community Hub at King Albert Public School was a success! Surveys returned from class participants were mostly positive: adults appreciated the food they were provided with, the fee coverage for each course, the ease of access to child care on site and the certifications/knowledge that they gained which will give them a “leg up” into future employment.
Child minding was provided, free of charge, to four children of three mothers who took the Safe Food Handler course. Volunteer caregivers Emily and Judy provided childcare to these four children, along with help from Hub Manager and United Way Staff Member Elly. Other children who took the Cooking with Tweens Program in the morning (provided by John Howard Society), had the option of taking a bus to join in programming at the Boys and Girls Club for the afternoon.
A healthy snack and lunch was provided to each child and program participant each day of programming. A group of about 5 volunteers helped to prepare the food on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, while on Wednesdays and Fridays, the food was prepared by the Brown bag Lunch program and distributed at the school by Mallory Cramp-Waldinsperger (Summer Student at United Way CKL). On food prep days, Mike Kleinhuis (Pastor of The Centre Community Church) and Mallory purchased food, led the team of volunteers to prepare the food, and distributed the food to children in the school. Most days, approximately 60 healthy lunches were provided to Community Hub participants. The menu and budget were created by Mike Kleinhuis and Aisha Malik, and food was purchased from the Kawartha Wholesale Bakery and Valu-Mart.
Thank you to every partner, volunteer, and agency who was involved in the planning and execution of this pilot project!
