P-4023

Community Food Pantry Grant

Description

Financing

Documents

Photos

History Logs

Project Description

Country: USA

Location: Lewisville Texas

Total Budget: $8,172

Area of Focus: Community economic development

Activity Type: Community Needs Assessment

Summary: Providing a food pantry inside 7 LISD schools with children who have food insecurities.


ROTARY GRANT - 2021

Community Outreach

NEEDS:

Across Denton County, 14% of the child population suffers from food insecurity. According to a study by Feeding America in 2020, there will be more than 18 million children that experience food insecurities. In 2019, of the 28,860 food insecure children in Denton County, 53% were not likely to be eligible for federal nutrition programs. The Lewisville Independent School District's Central Zone feeder pattern culminates with the following three high schools: Lewisville High School, Killough High School, and Harmon High School. The following middle schools feed into these high schools: Durham Middle School, DeLay Middle School, Hedrick Middle School, and Huffines Middle School. Among the seven campuses, an average of 63% of students qualified for free and reduced lunch during the 2020-2021 school year, indicating that their family was economically disadvantaged. With poverty also comes the crisis of food instability, extreme mobility, and malnutrition.

According to a study examining the association of food insecurity with children's behavioral, emotional, and academic outcomes, "household food insecurity, even at marginal levels, identified by a variety of measures, is associated with children's behavioral, academic, and emotional problems beginning as early as infancy" (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2017). More specifically, in school-aged children, food insecurity is associated with "impaired academic performance, increased hyperactivity, inattention, aggressive behavior, missing school, borderline emotional problems, less adaptive interpersonal relations, self-control and approaches to learning, more internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and greater likelihood of having seen a psychologist" (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2017). In addition, there were further associations between adolescents experiencing food insecurity and "seeing a counselor, suspension from school, difficulty getting along with others, and substance use disorders" (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2017). Food insecurity, as well as the issues that follow, serve as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). When left unaddressed, ACEs can "compromise cognitive and noncognitive socio-emotional skills in children, decreasing likelihood of school success" (NJ Funders, 2019).

The Lewisville Noon Rotary partners with local agencies such as Communities In Schools of North Texas, to not only bring light to this issue affecting the Lewisville community, but to demonstrate service above self by alleviating the need and providing healthy food to students who suffer from food insecurity.

MEETING THE NEEDS:

With funding from the Rotary Foundation, the Lewisville Noon Rotary will work closely with the Lewisville Independent School District, Communities In Schools (CIS) of North Texas to provide a food pantry during the 2020-2021 school year to seven high need middle school and high school campuses. The High Schools will include Lewisville High School, Harmon, Killough, and the middle schools will include Hedrick, Degan, Delay, and Huffines. Through the Rotary Foundation grants and Rotarian support, we will be able to buy food for the pantries for kids to have during the day and weekends as well as shelving and storage for our new Huffines Campus we are adding this year.

These community outreach funds will help keep our kids fed and help to keep them healthy and be able to stay in school for their education.

TIMELINE:

As soon as funding is approved, Lewisville Noon Rotary will purchase the food, hygiene items, basic needs items, storage shelves, storage boxes, bags, and supplies to organize and/or re-stock the pantries. In general, the timeline of services provided to students aligns with the school calendar, with enrollment and initial services during August- September, continuing services through May of the following year.

HOW PROJECT FUNDS WILL BE SPENT:

Funding from the Rotary Foundation will be spent on essential items for the Rotary Food Pantries at Lewisville High School, Killough High School, Harmon High School, Durham Middle School, Hedrick Middle School, DeLay Middle School, and Huffines Middle School. Items that will be purchased include:

● Healthy, self-serve foods, meals, and snacks. (This may also include gift cards for groceries and longer-term food needs for homeless and transient students.)

● Hygiene items and basic needs items such as deodorant, toothbrushes/paste, facewash, sanitary napkins, soap, latex or rubber gloves, sanitizer, and wipes for food safety and other needs emerging from the assessment of the school staff and CIS Site Coordinator.

● Storage unit, shelving, and bins to safely and sanitarily store food

● Bags for daily and weekend food packs

● Office supplies such as signs and tags to orderly label and organize the pantry

INVOLVEMENT OF CLUB MEMBERS:

We believe that the success of any project rides on the follow through. The Lewisville Noon Rotary club members will be involved in the purchase of the food, shelving, and supplies, the packing of the daily and weekend food bags, and the organization and set up of the food pantry- both initially and on a regular basis. Our goal is to achieve at least 100 hours of Rotarian service to the Rotary pantries by the end of May 2022.

Rotarians will also be heavily involved in the follow-up services that are required to ensuring student success by partnering with each school campus and local nonprofits such as Communities In Schools of North Texas. Rotarians will be encouraged to serve throughout the year in the following roles:

● Mentors, who meet with students once a week to discuss student progress and to provide encouragement, build self-esteem, and set future goals.

● Academic Coaches- who meet with students as needed to work on core subjects such as math, English, social studies, and science.

● Career Presenters- who come to school campuses to talk to groups of students about careers that interest them. Students will have the opportunity to discuss their questions with the presenter one-to-one following the presentation.

The provision of basic resources which are critical to students' health and wellness will empower them with the tools to succeed in and outside of the classroom. The long-term impact of a successful education is our goal and will be key for students to break the cycle of poverty and to reach their full potential in life.

Project Contact Person

District: 5790

Rotary Club of: Lewisville

Primary Contact: Angie Cox

Email: acox@allegiancetitle.com

Project Status

Completed
This project is "Completed". This means the project has been implemented and the report was accepted by the district leadership. The project will stay listed on this website as a testimony of the achievements of the project partners.

Project listed for the 2021-22 Rotary Year.

Proposed Financing

Existing Contributions Towards This Project

Date

Cash

DDF

Total

Lewisville (5790)

15-Jul-21

$4,086

$4,086

$8,172

Total

$4,086

$4,086

$8,172

Project Supporting Documents

Project Photos


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Go to the administration page to upload photos.

History Log Entries

15-Jul-21

by Angie Cox

System Entry: Creation of project page.

7-Sep-21

by Dusty Babitzke

System Entry: Project sent for club signatures.

7-Sep-21

by Dusty Babitzke

System Entry: Project signed by Dusty Babitzke.

8-Sep-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Steve Cox.

8-Sep-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Dirk Dahlke.

8-Sep-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Angie Cox.

18-Sep-21

by Dusty Babitzke

Grant Approved

15-Nov-21

by Dusty Babitzke

System Entry: Project approved by the District Approval Committee.

30-Jun-22

by Sharron Miles

System Entry: Check for DDF payment issued by Foundation Treasurer.

30-Jun-22

by Dusty Babitzke

System Entry: Project has been implemented and final report uploaded.

30-Jun-22

by Dusty Babitzke

System Entry: Final report approved by the District Approval Committee.

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