Snack Program
Introduction of the program:The goal of Feeding South Florida's after school program is to provide school-aged children who are at risk of hunger and malnutrition, with valuable and nutritious after school snacks. The Children's after school snack program's mission is to fill the nutritional gap caused by the absence of the school free or reduced meal program. In many situations, the meals that children receive through our program make the difference between going through the evening hungry or not. The areas in which the program operates have at least 50% of the children who receive free or reduced meals during school hours. These children are highly at risk of food insecurity during and after the school's timeframe.
Through our partnership with The Florida Department of Health and The Children's Trust, we will be able to not only provide snacks during the school year but also during the summer months when children at risk of hunger might normally go without any meal assistance.
We currently serve public schools, children's centers, after-school educational and enrichment programs, and churches that are participants of The Children's Trust.
Feeding South Florida in partnership with The Florida Department of Health and The Children's Trust provide this needed service to eligible site for FREE!!!
The benefit of being a member site under our children's after school snack program is that our member sites will have a coordinator provided by Department of Health, The Children's trust, Feeding America, and Feeding South Florida will take care of all the guess work out of providing snacks for your sites. We will keep track of all your records, snack ordering and reimbursements, saving you manpower, time and money! With our service you will have more time to focus on the children than on the operations of your site.
To find out how your organization could qualify for the after school snack program; please refer to the "Enrollment Procedures" bellow. For further inquiries contact Ana Reyes , 954-518-1818 Ext: 1831.
History of the program:
The idea of providing after school snacks to children at risk of hunger first started as an initiative of America's Second Harvest. In 1989 two young brothers were discovered in the kitchen of their housing project's community center. The older brother had broken into the kitchen to feed himself and his hungry younger brother. In response to this example of childhood hunger and the extent to which children have gone to feed themselves and their families, Feeding America Food Banks started providing after school snack programs.
Seeing the success of such an initiative, Feeding South Florida, in partnership with The Florida Department of Health and The Children's Trust have ventured to create a local after school feeding program.
Enrollment Procedures:
Currently we are only accepting sites that are approved through The Children's Trust, or have partnership with The Children's Trust. If you would like to get information about how to have your site approved by The Children's Trust please contact the trust at 305-571-5600 or visit The Children's Trust.
Once approved by The Children's Trust Grant you can participate in the after school snack program by contacting Ana Reyes, 954-518-1818 ext 1831. The application process entails filling out an application package and have an inspector of FSF conduct a pre-site visit, allow one working week for processing.
Pre-Site Visit:
Our goal is to see if the site has a secure area where the snacks can be stored and to inform those involved with the program of the ordering and distribution process.
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Site Visit Information
Your sites will have three unannounced site visits. In order to continue with the after school snack program you must meet the following critical points. Failure to adhere to these critical points will cause you to be disallowed.
- The "And Justice for All Poster" must be posted in public view.
- The weekly menu must be posted in public view (see the "Snack Forms" menu above for a list of menus). The weekly menu is stapled to the back of the invoice that is handed to you once you come to FSF for your weekly snacks.
- Enrollment forms, and snack invoices are kept in order.
- Storage of snacks must be in a closet environment that has a lock.
- Snacks can not be stored with cleaning supplies.
- Snack storage must be clean and have no infestation.
- Snacks must be a foot off the ground and wall.
- It is essential that hands be washed by both the children and staff before snack distribution.
- Snacks must be distributed according to menu.
- Both the liquid and the grain portion of the snacks must be handed to the child at the same time in order for the snack to be reimbursed.
- Meal count/attendance must be taken immediately after snack distribution.
Procedures for Ordering and Picking Up
The following procedures outlines the ordering and picking up procedures and what is the agencies' responsibilities.
Submitting Information:
You must send in a completed attendance and meal count 24 hours before pick up. You must either send it by fax (305-637-5350) or email Ana Reyes. Once you have submitted your information it is your responsibility to confirm that we have received your information.
You must pick up 24 hrs after you have submitted your information. We can not warehouse snacks more than 24 hours. If you have submitted your information you are then responsible for coming by the next day. Before passing by you must confirm pick up times. By calling you schedule your pick up time and we will have your paper work processed before your arrival.
Regularly by submitting your information before 11 AM on the previous day then your pick up will be ready in the morning the next day (8:15 AM - 11:00 AM), if you submitted your information after 11 AM your pick up will be the next day in the afternoon (1:00 PM - 2:00 PM).
