School-aged children, including those staying at Harbor Place, a motel run by Champlain Housing Trust that provides temporary shelter and supportive services for those experiencing homelessness, can eat breakfast and lunch at their schools. But what happens during school vacations and summer breaks? Is food available? And for the families at Harbor Place where rooms only have a microwave and dorm-sized refrigerator, is it possible to cook and store food?
Volunteers at the Shelburne Food Shelf found a way to ensure kids have food available for the meals they are missing during school breaks. With a generous grant from SCHIP Upscale Resale to purchase food, Shelburne Food Shelf volunteers meet seven times a year to fill a grocery bag with easy to heat or prepare meals and healthy snacks for a week’s worth of breakfasts and lunch/dinner meals for each child. Then, four times a year before each of the weeklong breaks and three times over the summer, volunteers deliver these meals and snacks to families in Shelburne, including Harbor Place.