Venture (Scout) Crews 40 & 49 (from Hillview UMC and Whitney UMC respectively) are seen above rolling plastic spoons in paper napkins and making other preparations for serving Saturday Lunches March 4th.

The Saturday Lunch program was started in response to learning through Whitney’s Partners In Education (P.I.E.) relationship with Whitney Elementary School (across the street) that many students were not receiving adequate food at home over the weekend.

For the first several years the program was managed by Emily Nelson.  Since May 2005 the program has been overseen by the Saturday Lunch Advisory Committee.  The oversee the menu, shopping, staffing and weekly operations.

Each month members of Boy Scout Troop 49, United Methodist Men, Hillview UMC, Whitney Women’s Chorale, Worship Committee take turns assosting in the preparation of nutritious brown bag sack lunches.

Every Saturday between the hours of 11:00 AM and 12:30 PM meat and cheese sandwich brown bag lunches are provided to anyone requesting them at the kitchen of Vernon Richards Hall.  Baby food and infant formula are made available for those with infants and to the extent possible, low sugar alternative foods are made available for diabetics.  For budgetary reasons, carryouts are limited to those who can demonstrate that they live in Zip Code 83705.

Coloring books and crayons are provided to entertain the children while adults engage in friendly conversation and wait for their orders to be filled.

Tables are provided for those wishing to “eat in” but most recipients prefer “take out.”

During 2007, an average of 111 brown bag lunches were prepared each week.   On April 14th the highest number of lunches for the year was prepared: 180.

Saturday Lunches is a budgeted program.  Whenever possible suitable food is purched weekly at the Idaho FoodBank with the remaindure purchased at the least expensive retail outlets and occasionally food items are donated by generous members.

During 2007, the Saturday Lunch program served 5244 brown bag lunches.  While the program originated to meet the needs of school-aged children, it quickly became obvious that parents and other adults were also in need of this program.  The age distribution of the recipients during 2007 was 1% infants (under 1 year old), 44% children (under 18), 53% adults and 1% seniors (60+).

In the past, a small portion of the cost of this program has been funded by grants from the FRED MEYER FOUNDATION.

For more information on this program, contact Marc dePeo (331-4054).