How do you believe the coronavirus pandemic has affected the rates of hunger in the Toledo area? Children have been at home more, meaning they’re in need of more meals. Right now, we’re averaging about 1,800 meals per day. Some of the local school districts are even struggling to keep up with the demand, so we try to make sure we’re stepping in to help with the later meals by serving at libraries, community centers, and other centrally located places. We see the need daily.
-Wendi Huntley, President of Connecting Kids to Meals “If that helps them graduate from high school and live better lives, then I’m honored to be a part of that work.” With the uncertainty of the pandemic, our goal is to continue growing " nancially as an organization to be able to ful " ll our mission. We want to get to the point where we can better reach grandparents caring for these children. Also, making our brand and our quality of work more widely-known will grow our funding. All of this directly helps us better serve these kids. If that helps them graduate from high school and live better lives, then I’m honored to be a part of that work. How has the pandemic affected your organization’s operations? We’re in a much slower process now. Prior to the pandemic, the kids would go and eat on site. We could directly transport all of the meals in bulk and serve them directly to the kids on plates. Now that we have to watch for social distancing, we can’t do that. We also haven’t been able to serve the hot meals that we typically do. Instead, we’re doing cold, pre-packaged meals. Our kitchen sta ! is on a hybrid schedule, so not as many cooks are on site at a time. Costs have increased with us having to purchase PPE, lunch bags, and totes to transport meals. But we have adapted. We’ve become a lot more mobile. We pack up our seven vans and have " gured out a process that allows us to quickly set up tents and tables to deliver the meals. How does the organization plan to expand and further its impact in the community?
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