Why I've Been Gone

I haven't blogged for months and I owe everyone an explanation.

I have been focusing on feeding hungry children in my community.  I am the Director of our local Summer Lunch program which feeds children throughout the summer.  We are focusing on those children who receive free and reduced lunches throughout the school year and go hungry during the summer.

This has consumed all of my time since February.  I supervise over 140 volunteers, make up the menus, buy the food, keep an ongoing inventory and take care of all of the bookkeeping.  So, this is why I haven't been blogging.

I have found my passion in serving the children of our community.  The program that we are going through to provide the food is the USDA Summer Lunch Program.  We must comply with their guidelines for a healthy meal for the children in order to receive reimbursement from them.  We have focused on feeding them lunch and our lunches consist of milk, whole grain breads, lean "whole muscle" meats such as turkey breast, non-processed cheeses such as provolone and cojack and fresh fruits and veggies.

An example of a lunch menu would be a turkey/cojack cheese sandwich using Sara Lee whole grain white bread, milk, fruit salad of watermelon, strawberries and sliced grapes; and for a veggie - a tray of fresh green beans, sweet pepper strips, carrots, cucumber strips and grape tomatoes.

Many children have never seen the fruits and veggies we are serving and someone questioned the cheese - why it wasn't wrapped in plastic.

The program ends August 15th which is the Friday before school begins in our area.  Then I will be back to focusing on my home and blogging.  I have been going to bed at midnight and getting up at 6:00 a.m. for the past several months in the planning process, fundraising for start up costs and handling all of the paperwork and documents necessary to run a food service program.

So, that is what I have been doing and I will be happy when I can go back to focusing on my home.  My husband and I are empty nesters and he has gladly put up with quick dinners, an untidy home and doing his own laundry and clean up.  It has been well worth the messiness of my home in order to feed children who would go hungry during the summer.