Community Partners Step-Up to Support Boys & Girls Club Food Operation

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware self-prep food operation, serving Kent and Sussex county club sites, recently received generous support from two of our community partners, the Harry K Foundation and the Novick Corporation.

In order to help control costs in the Boys & Girls Clubs’ self-prep kitchen operation, a decision was made to purchase a new heat-sealing, meal packaging machine. For the past three years, the self-prep operation has utilized a vendor that provides us with a packaging machine, and we purchase the plastic heat-sealed containers as needed. However, because we must purchase the containers from this sole vendor, we are unable to cost-shop and look for container sources that may provide less expensive product.

We have now purchased a new Ameripak heat-sealing, meal container packaging machine. This allows us the opportunity to seek competitive pricing for the meal packaging trays. The kitchen uses as many as 350,000 meal trays per year in the feeding program.

The cost of the new machine is $40,000, and due to having access to lower cost trays, forecasts a return on investment in the first year. However, two of our two community partners have contributed $10,000 each to help the self-prep kitchen operation, and fund the new machine purchase.

The Harry K Foundation mission is to combat food insecurity among Delaware young people. The Novick Corporation is our primary self-prep kitchen inventory vendor. Novick’s contribution will be directly used to offset the costs of the machine. The Harry K Foundation contribution will be used to purchase food product and allow us to use the food inventory savings to support the machine cost.

In addition, Bill Novick, of the Novick Corporation, has announced that Novick will be stocking, and providing meal trays at a significant cost-savings over our current supplier. This will enable the trays to be bought as needed and delivered along with the traditional weekly product deliveries, helping to free up needed storage space.

Thanks to The Harry K Foundation, the Novick Corporation, and available funds budgeted in a federal USDA "Food Supply Chain" grant we received in 2022, through the Delaware Community Foundation, we are able to pay for the new packaging machine up front, and realize costs-savings in the food program immediately. 

Our partnership with Harry Keswani and The Harry K Foundation started in 2018, when we joined forces to provide weekend backpacks of food for members at our Sussex County Boys & Girls Clubs. Since then, Harry K has been a consistent Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware supporter. In addition to the recent $10,000 contribution, The Harry K Foundation also contributed $10,000 in July, to support the self-prep kitchen’s food inventory purchases.

The Novick Corporation has been our primary inventory provider since 2021. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in serious food supply issues. The national food vendors who were our kitchen inventory resources since the operation began in 2020, were spread thin with food supply, and put a primary focus on larger restaurant and food service providers who had been clients for a longer time. This resulted in food product delays, and in many cases, substitution of product with higher cost product.

The Novick Corporation, based in Philadelphia, has been consistent with inventory provisions and specializes in food product that supports the USDA nutritional requirements of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program, we operate year around at Boys & Girls Clubs. Novick also supports Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware's "Youth of the Year" program with a $5,000 annual contribution.

We are appreciative of the support from our community partners, like the Novick Corporation and the Harry K Foundation. Together we can make a difference in the lives of our young people!

Tony Windsor, Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware Food Program Director, accepts a $10,000 check from Harry Keswani, President of The Harry K Foundation, to support food inventory purchases at the B&G Clubs Seaford self-prep kitchen.

Tony Windsor (center) are Aimee Beam, Director of the Department of Education's Office of Nutrition, and Harry Keswani, President of the Harry K Foundation, a supporter of the Boys & Girls Club food service program.

Boys & Girls Clubs Kitchen Manager, Yvette Cannon and Food Program Director, Tony Windsor, receive a $10,000 check from Bill Novick, of the Novick Corporation. The funds will support the purchase of a new heat-sealing, meal packaging machine for the Seaford self-prep kitchen.