Success Stories | Rise & Shine Illinois

Success Stories

Prosper Chicago – Increasing Food Access in Chicago

Prosper Chicago is a small nonprofit organization focused on providing an innovative solution to food insecurity. They are making big moves as they work to increase food access in Chicago. Prosper was originally founded during the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic as Feed Chicago, providing hot and ready meals to frontline workers, students, and families with the goal of keeping restaurant workers employed while feeding those in need. In 2021, they reimagined their mission and became Prosper Chicago.

Celebrating National School Lunch Week at Dream Academy

National School Lunch Week is an annual observance that promotes the importance of a healthy school lunch in a child’s life and the impact it has both in and out of the classroom. Every year, National School Lunch Week (NSLW) has a theme that school nutrition professionals can center their celebrations around; this year’s theme is “Peace, Love, and School Lunch”. School lunch programs across the nation dusted off their peace signs and brought out their flower power to celebrate.

Providing Meals and Compassion at Crete-Monee SD 201-U

Pamela Pansa is the Director of Food Service at Crete-Monee School District 201-U. Crete-Monee SD 201-U has nine on-site preparation kitchens and one satellite kitchen. The district’s cafeterias serve over 5,000 students daily, with each cafeteria supervised by its own manager. Pam Pansa oversees it all! Ms. Pansa is passionate about providing meals for kids. As a child, she and her siblings experienced food insecurity. Knowing what hunger and food insecurity feel like, and how exhausting it is, fuels her passion for ending child hunger through school nutrition.

The Impact of Community and Lived Experience

This month, Rise and Shine IL had the opportunity to talk with Tyler Stratton, the Associate Director of Youth Programs at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, about how her life experiences impacted how she approaches her work. Tyler was born and raised on the south side of Chicago but spent much of her time growing up experiencing many different communities throughout Cook County. Through her participation in the National School Lunch Program and her constant movement throughout different areas of Chicago to reach her extracurricular activities, Tyler was exposed to diverse communities and people from all walks of life at an early age. This exposure caused her to question why there is such a difference in how people live, the resources people have access to, and why communities are supported so differently.

Highlighting Black Journeys: Moments that Shape Us

As we close out Black History Month, Rise and Shine Illinois would like to highlight the journey and accomplishments of a Black Child Nutrition Director who never fails to show up for their school district! Rise and Shine Illinois had the opportunity to interview Marcus Shelton, Director of Nutrition Services for Berkeley School District 87, about his personal and professional experiences with food access and child nutrition. His familiarity with these topics shapes his approach towards child nutrition and food accessibility and informs how he interacts with Berkeley SD’s culturally and economically diverse student body.

Expressing Gratitude: Passion Pushes Progress

For Meghan Gibbons, Director of School Nutrition at Valley View School District, serving kids school meals is not a job, but a passion. Amidst the challenges brought by the pandemic such as: remote feeding, socially distanced meal service, and supply chain issues, Meghan and her team have worked tirelessly to ensure every child has access to meals and can receive the nourishment they need to grow, learn, and be healthy.

Meet the Heroes Feeding Kids in Illinois

For nearly two years, the pandemic has disrupted daily life, taking a toll on the wellbeing of families across the country. As a result, hundreds of thousands of kids could be struggling with hunger, including 1 in 8 in Illinois.

Spice and Spectrum: Recipes for Resilience

The last 18 months have been like no other. We know that the impact of the global pandemic was different on each community. For individuals experiencing food insecurity, their world looked much different than the overworked executive who welcomed the change of pace. Working parents who were home with school aged children had an entirely different struggle “balancing it all” compared to individuals living alone who grappled with isolation. One thing that occurred for many Americans is that we developed a love for food!

The Illinois Commission to End Hunger and Child Nutrition

Around the state of Illinois, millions of people experienced financial and food insecurity because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Illinois Commission to End Hunger seeks to alleviate the barriers to accessing social services and ensure food equity for all. Our conversation with Colleen Burns, the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s State Engagement and Policy Innovation Lead, talks about the roadmap to take us there and what the next steps are for ending hunger in Illinois.

Lessons Learned: Summer Meals in 2021

Across Illinois, summer meal programs worked hard to fill the hunger gap created when children couldn’t access school breakfasts or lunches. There’s no doubt that the diverse challenges of the pandemic demanded creative ways to reach students facing food insecurity. While some partners tested new popular menu ideas, others collaborated with school summer enrichment programs to increase student participation. We reached out to some of our partners, and they shared their strategies and lessons learned from this summer and the previous school year.

Rolling YMCA Rolling with the Punches

“Food is the gateway to connections,” according to Sarah O’Donnell, CEO of the Tri-Town YMCA. “When you can sit down around a table and make memories, instead of worrying where the next meal is coming from, you invest in your child’s healthy future.” For the countless families who experienced economic hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tri-Town YMCA stepped up to the plate to offer innovative child nutrition programs, food drives, grab‘n’go services, and even vaccination clinics to reinvigorate the community and show them that they were not alone.

Meals on the Move: Delivering Meals in Illinois’ Largest County

Summer can be the hungriest time of the year for kids who rely on school meals, but it doesn’t have to be. Last summer, as the need for meals was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, innovative flexibilities were implemented to allow organizations to serve more meals and reach families in need. This summer, programs across the country are working to continue this success and reach more kids than ever before.

5 Things You Can Do to Spread the Word About Summer Meals

Sun’s out, school’s over, and it’s time to double down on getting food to our communities! During the academic year school meals are the most reliable and nutritious source of food for at-risk students, but summer meals are also critical to curbing child hunger. Though we may be able to enjoy warmer weather and fewer responsibilities, hunger doesn’t take a vacation. Here are 5 simple things you can do to make sure your summer feeding program is reaching as many families as possible!

Pushing for Breakfast in the Classroom Post-COVID

Mary Poole, Food Service Director at Benton School District, has been advocating for serving breakfast in the classroom for a while, but like many people in her position, she faced pushback from teachers.
She heard many concerns from the teaching staff: the classroom would get messy; there wouldn’t be time to eat during the school day; teachers wouldn’t get a break.

The Alphabet Soup of Child Nutrition Programs

Are you new to child nutrition?
Do you have a specific child nutrition area of focus, but don’t know all the programs out there?
Are you trying to explain all your options to feed kids to someone on your team, and you need them to catch up, and quick?

School Meals Delivered: Stories from Decatur

Creativity is the name and collaboration is the game at Decatur School District. Poverty and food access were central worries for families in the Decatur community when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March. Students who thought they were leaving school only for a week to enjoy Spring break were suddenly forced to transition to online learning and be socially distant from friends and faculty. In this time of need, Aramark’s Scot Gregory and his team stepped up to the plate and immediately sprang into action to adjust the district’s meal service program. Within the week, the team was managing four drive-up sites distributing 500 to 600 meals 5 days a week.

Frozen Meals Don’t Chill Participation: Lessons from Carbondale

Like communities across the country, COVID-19 devastated the Southern Illinois local economy. Families who previously never needed assistance began seeking resources to help feed their families. While struggling with the sometimes-stigmatizing experience of seeking food assistance, they also dealt with transporting food to children learning from home.

Breakfast After the Bell in Action

Before, during, and after the pandemic, school districts across the state use Breakfast After the Bell programs to increase access to the most important meal of the day. Ensuring students eat a healthy breakfast sets them up for success during the school day and beyond. Here are their stories:

Waukegan’s Mission to Deliver, No Matter How Far.

Like many school districts in Illinois, Waukegan District 60 was concerned that its students could suffer from food insecurity because of the pandemic. Packaged meal kits are great, but not if kids can’t get to them. With transportation issues and parents’ work schedules, the district near the northern Illinois border could have struggled getting food into the bellies of kids. Even more worrying, over 500 families in the district face housing insecurity, presenting bigger barriers to meal access.

A Look Back at 2020

2020 has been a year like no other. The pandemic has had a profound impact on every aspect of our lives, including child hunger. This year, as many as 1 in 4 kids could go hungry, a number that has greatly increased since the onset of the coronavirus.

Stories of Innovation in a COVID-19 World

There’s no doubt that 2020 has been a year like no other, but the hard work of schools and community organizations to feed kids is one thing we can always count on. It is always encouraging to hear about the innovation and enthusiasm of food service professionals in the state of Illinois. We’d like to highlight their stories:

Summer Suppers.

In Carbondale, Illinois, it’s not just schools providing meals for kids during the pandemic.

Over the summer, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Illinois used their staff, budget, and a little help from No Kid Hungry to serve suppers to all interested kids in their community. This new evening meal program was established in addition to their pre-existing partnership with local school districts to serve lunches to children in need. According to Tina Carpenter, CEO of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Illinois, early summer saw a staff stretched too thin and a budget burdened with PPE costs. The support from No Kid Hungry helped turn this around and provided the funding necessary to make suppers in Carpenter’s centers possible.

Trucking Along, Through the Pandemic

In the fairly large city of Kankakee, fifty miles south of downtown Chicago, having multiple feeding sites isn’t always enough to make sure kids have access to the food they need during the pandemic. Some sites are not easy to get to by walking or riding a bike, but those kids still need meals, whether their school is fully remote or hybrid. Kankakee School District saw a problem, and found the resources from No Kid Hungry, Headstart, and district funds to fix it.

Successfully Serving in a Diverse, Rural Community

Beardstown Community School District has faced some unique challenges because of COVID-19. One might think that a rural district in Central Illinois with 1,600 kids is fairly routine. However, the families in this district use over 22 languages! Superintendent Ron Gilbert says that with such a diverse community, communication is tricky, and always has been. But that challenge hasn’t stopped the district from providing food to its students during the pandemic.

School Breakfast – Part of Being Healthy

Nubia Sanchez, Compliance Officer at Acero Charter Schools remembers waiting a couple of weeks after implementing Breakfast After the Bell in SY17-18 to hear complaints or issues with Grab ‘N’ Go to the Classroom but upon hearing hardly none thought, “this is too good to be true.”

Golder Makes Breakfast a Priority

Golder College Prep in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago went from serving 13% of their students breakfast daily with the traditional before school cafeteria model to serving nearly 67% of their students daily after implementing Breakfast in the Classroom.

Party and a Breakfast at Michele Clark H.S.

“We push our students to eat healthy in a fun way so it doesn’t feel like they are pressured,” said Principal Anderson.

Nudges in Perspective

Perspectives Charter Schools, increased breakfast participation from 55% to 85% after implementing a Grab ‘N’ Go to the Classroom with the help of teachers, principles and counselors nudging students to grab breakfast in the mornings.

A Second Chance For Breakfast

While keeping its traditional cafeteria breakfast program, Elmwood Park implemented a Second Chance Breakfast program in the middle and high school in the 2017-18 school year.

Breakfast After the Bell: Abbott Just Does It

“Our school is not required under the law to offer Breakfast After the Bell, we just do it,” said Miguel Medel, Foodservice Manager at Abbott Middle School in Elgin School District U-46.

Breakfast After the Bell: Meeting Needs at Instituto

“We have been doing Breakfast After the Bell since before it was hip,” chuckled Kasia Sanchez, Director of the President’s Office at Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy.

Wiley Elementary Loves Its BIC Program

“Breakfast In the Classroom (BIC) has had a positive impact on attendance. More students eat breakfast than ever before and are excited about going into their classrooms in the morning. I love it,” said Wiley’s Principal, Candace Gwin.

Breakfast After the Bell: Like Clockwork

Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti, Illinois Commission to End Hunger, and the Rise & Shine Team sat down with Berwyn North School District 98 Officials for a Q&A on Lincoln Middle School’s Grab ‘N’ Go program.

Doing What’s Best For Students

When talking to school stakeholders about implementing Breakfast After the Bell, “we led with our district mantra: it is what’s best for our students and with that everyone got on-board,” said Dan Oberg, Director of Business Services for Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21.

Seamlessly Breakfast After the Bell

At Lincoln Middle School about 130 students ate breakfast daily when it was served in the cafeteria before school started. Now that the school has a Grab ‘N’ Go program, close to 500 students eat breakfast daily.

Simply Breakfast After the Bell

“Simplicity is key here,” said Matthew Brue, Superintendent of Community Unit School District (CUSD) #202 when talking about the Grab ‘N’ Go breakfast program at Porta Junior/Senior High School in Petersburg Illinois.

A League of Their Own

Bloomington High School, SD 87 threw a curve ball creating their own Breakfast After the Bell delivery model that is just the right fit for their school.

Berwyn South SD 100 – “The Field Trip”

Breakfast Champions Jennifer Hosty, Business Manager, and Toni LeGare, Food Service Director of Berwyn South SD 100 opened up the doors to two of their schools for nearby school districts preparing to implement a Breakfast After the Bell program to see one up close, live, and in action.

Q&A with Berwyn South School District 100

The Business Manager Jennifer Hosty & Food Service Coordinator Toni LeGare sat down with Rise & Shine Illinois to talk about their Breakfast After the Bell Program and how the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) has helped to increase breakfast participation in the district.