Morningside College softball team volunteers
Members of the Morningside College softball team spent an afternoon packing bags for Morningside Elementary.
Thanksgiving dinner fundraiser
 |
| The Turkey Dinner fundraiser in October 2015 raised enough funds to purchase food for 3,032 bags. |
 |
| Fresh-picked corn in July 2015, ready to be blanched and frozen for the turkey dinner fundraiser. |
Food deliveries at Morningside Elementary
 |
| In August 2015, Food4Kids partnered with the Salvation Army to deliver tubs packed with food bags to Morningside Elementary. |
 |
| The Salvation Army truck was met outside Morningside Elementary by custodian Troy Windeshausen, who moved the tubs to the room where they are stored for distribution to students at the end of each week. Tubs with two weeks worth of food bags are delivered at one time. |
 |
| Students at Morningside Elementary help deliver food bags around the school. |
 |
| Students are excited to receive food bags to take home for the weekend. |
Donations from Morningside College students
The May 2015 food bags were enhanced with items donated by students at Morningside College to give students a good start to their summer break.
Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes
25 Thanksgiving food boxes were given to families of participating students in November 2014, and 30 Christmas food boxes were delivered in December 2014.
Turkey dinner fundraiser
The turkey dinner fundraiser in October 2014 raised enough funds to purchase food for 3,300 bags.
Thanksgiving boxes
 |
| Lining up the boxes to begin packing turkey dinners for 25 Food4Kids families. A drawing was held through the Whittier ElementarySchool office and winners received a box. |
 |
| Each Thanksgiving box contained an approximately-20-pound turkey, five pounds of potatoes, two cans of green beans and a frozen pie. Also included were two jars of pasta sauce and two boxes of spaghetti. |
 |
| The filled Thanksgiving boxes lined up at Whittier Elementary for the winners to pick up after school on Monday, Nov. 22. |
Stained glass window
This stained glass window insert was created by Dick Wightman, a Food4Kids volunteer. It adorns the window of the door to the program's pantry room at St. James United Methodist Church.
Working together to eliminate hunger
Collaborating on this ministry:- St. James United Methodist Church
- St. Luke Lutheran Church
- St. Mark Lutheran Church
- Sodexo at Morningside College
- Morningside Lutheran Church
- The Presbyterian Churches of the Morningside Area, Sioux City
- NW District of the United Methodist Church
- Junior League of Sioux City Mildred Anderson Grant
- Women United Brighter Futures Grant
100% Volunteers
More than 100 volunteers have clocked a little over 1,500 hours for the 2012/13 school year, which was our first year.Distributions to students
We began slowly to insure that we could sustain our program.- One distribution per month beginning Sept. 19, 2012
- Two distributions per month beginning November 2012
- Three distributions per month beginning January 2013
- Weekly distributions beginning March 2013
Junior League of Sioux City Mildred Anderson Grant
Beginning this program was a true leap of faith. We actively pursued grant writing. Many, many thanks to the Junior League of Sioux City for the Mildred Anderson Grant we received to help fund and grow our Food4Kids program during our first year! Pictured here are representatives from the Junior League of Sioux City and some of the Food4Kids volunteers.
Brighter Futures Grant from Women United
On March 14, 2013, Food4Kids was awarded a substantial Brighter Futures Grant from Women United. This grant secured our ability to grow the program for the remainder of the 2012/13 school year and begin the 2013/14 school year confidently. A small portion of this grant was used for costs associated with becoming an independent 501(c)3.During regular reporting opportunities, Women United has encouraged and recognized the need for the program we provide. Many heartfelt thank you's from Food4Kids and the children we serve to this organization.
Morningside College and Sodexo Food Service join the cause
Sodexo Food Services at Morningside College presented Food4Kids with a donation check and award. In addition, the college's Office of Residence Life organized a food drive for items to fill the Food4Kids bags. We were pulling away from the curb at the college as other cars full of students pulled up to give us more bags of items. The students ran a friendly and motivated competition of various campus residences and supported the Food4Kids cause. Many thank you's to Sodexo and Morningside College of their support during our first year of programming. |
| Food4Kids volunteers Dick and Virginia Wightman, Jenny Jorgensen, Kay and Doug Delzell, and Annette Mast with the check and award from Sodexo Food Services at Morningside College. |
 |
| Donations from the food drive organized by the Office of Residence Life at Morningside College. |
IAUMC video: Food4Kids
Jenny Jorgensen and Annette Mast, two members of the Food4Kids team, talk about the program's beginnings and the impact it's had on St. James United Methodist Church and the surrounding community.Video courtesy of the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Kickoff
On Sept. 19, 2012, a handful of the volunteers for Food4Kids were in attendance at the kickoff for the program. Student and staff representatives from Whittier joined us in pulling wagons loaded with the eight tubs the two blocks from our packing space at St. James UMC to Whittier Elementary. |
| Food4Kids kickoff |
Our beginning
In February 2012, we came together to discuss how to address one of the five needs determined from the Healthy Church Initiative study done by St. James United Methodist Church during 2011.That need was identified as "children in need."
Whittier Elementary is the neighborhood school for the churches working together on this project. It is not served by the Food Bank of Siouxland because of a lack of funding.
Plans began to form a strong collaborative effort to provide a weekend food bag for children who enrolled in the program beginning the fall of 2012.
Executive Director Linda Scheid of the Food Bank of Siouxland guided and supported our start, reminding us: "Do not start a program if you cannot sustain it. The children count on you."