Johnson County Hunger Taskforce Releases Guide to Free Neighborhood Meals December 2 , 2015
Johnson County Hunger Taskforce Releases Guide to Free Neighborhood Meals December 2 , 2015
The Johnson County Hunger Taskforce is a coalition of local governments and nonprofit service providers dedicated to alleviating hunger through research , collaboration and targeted action . The taskforce grew out of a conference in 2014 , and is charged with presenting research and recommendations to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors early next year .
As they wrap-up their research , the Healthy Foods Committee of the Johnson County Hunger Taskforce has released a guide to free neighborhood meals as one way to alleviate hunger and build relationships between helpers and people struggling with hunger .
Guide to Free Neighborhood Meals
A Free Neighborhood Meal requires a lot of helping hands . It is recommended to form a planning committee of at least six people who can coordinate different aspects of the planning process – including sponsorship recruitment , food procurement , volunteer management , menu planning , & equipment rental .
Utilize local assets as much as possible :
• Identify and partner closely with a host organization that serves the community in which the meal will be served
• Recruit volunteers that live , work , or are invested in the community
• Engage sponsors that do business in the community .
• Involve churches that worship in the community .
• Procure food from local farmers .
• Promote through local influential leaders ( teachers , churches , nonprofit organizations )
Lessons Learned :
• It is better to have too much food than too little – as long as you have a plan for the excess . Planning food purchases for a recent Free Neighborhood Meal in Johnson County proved to be challenging due to not knowing how many people would actually attend the event . While 150 attended , enough food was prepared to feed at least 300 people . Excess food was bagged up and distributed to event attendees and volunteers . While it was nice to distribute the leftover food , in retrospect , it would have been best to scale back the total amount of food purchased and prepared .
• Many hands make lighter work – especially during clean up ! We highly recommend making sure you have plenty of volunteers willing to stick around afterwards to help tear down the venue , transport equipment back to the kitchen , and wash and dry dishes . We were lucky to have at least 10 people stay , which made a daunting clean-up task go relatively quickly .
• Find a sponsoring organization . To ensure a successful Free Neighborhood Meal , it is recommended to identify a local organization as the event ’ s “ sponsoring organization ,” which can take the lead on tasks such as securing a venue , finding financial support , promoting the meal , and mobilizing volunteers . The sponsoring organization should be active in the community in which the Free Neighborhood Meal will be held – with experience serving the target population and having strong relationships with local business and faith communities .
For more information , please contact Ms . Lynette Jacoby ( ljacoby @ co . johnson . ia . us , 319-356-6090 ) or Mr . John Boller ( director @ cefoodpantry . org , 319-351-2446 ).
Photo credits : John Boller , Coralville Ecumenical Food Pantry
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