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By Tony Windsor, B&G Clubs of DE Statewide Food Program Coordinator
Each year as a sponsor in the Child and adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food service Program (SFSP), Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware provides as many as 500,000 meals to children throughout the state. These include breakfasts, lunches, snacks and suppers. While the programs provide meals to B&G Club sites throughout Delaware, they also provide meals to children at community libraries, 4-H Clubs, churches, schools and other entities.
On Thursday, June 21, B&G Clubs of Delaware celebrated the kick-off its annual summer food program. A special event was held at the Greater Dover B&G Club and was attended by Delaware’s First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney and representatives of the Delaware Office of Child Nutrition, the agency that in conjunction with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) spearheads the food programs statewide.
Several community service agencies including Delaware Division of Public Health, the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the University of Delaware’s Cooperative Extension, joined B&G Club staff and members in a day of fun, recreation and nutrition and safety education. The USDA’s “Power Panther” mascot was on hand to greet the almost 300 children who attended the event and posed for photos to promote the food programs.
Also participating in the day’s event were the Delaware State Police Mounted Patrol Unit, the Camden/Wyoming Fire Department and the Wyoming Police Department. The Boys & Girls Clubs’ literacy education program “Reading is Fundamental (RIF) was also featured and added the fun of face painting as part of a literacy-based game held throughout the event.
To gain the full flavor of the Summer Food Program, Connections CSP, Inc., the program’s contracted vendor of the daily meals provided an outside, cookout-style lunch with hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob and a host of trimmings. Local produce business, Fifer’s Orchard, provided fresh, seasonal fruit as a special added treat.
Following are photos from the SFSP Kick-Off event.
