Steven Potter
Volunteer Sara Danor hands a free lunch to a young girl in Brentwood Village.
A few children are already waiting when a large van pulls into the Woodland Park apartment complex around lunchtime one Sunday in late July.
Before the back doors of the van open, an eager child who looks to be about 10 approaches, asking “What’s today?”
“We’ve got burgers, crackers, milk and applesauce,” says Sara Danor, a volunteer with The River, Dane County’s busiest food pantry, located on Madison’s north side. “Are you hungry?” she asks.
The kid nods and is handed a small white paper bag. He digs in and starts with the burger. After muffling a “thanks,” he’s off. Another two kids grab lunches as well.
“Go tell your friends we’re here,” says Jeff Steckel, who joined The River to run this lunch program, a partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District.
Three more kids saunter by and gratefully accept the lunches after inquiring about the menu. When no one else appears, Steckel goes hunting for hungry kids. Within a minute he’s leading a handful of elementary school-aged kids back to the van for their lunches.
“The key is rounding them up because we’re new; people forget, and they’re shy — so sometimes we have to go get them,” he says.
Over 15 minutes, the team serves 35 lunches to kids and adults, with a number of residents taking food for others. “We don’t question them if they say they need to take something home for family — they just get it,” says Andy Czerkas, co-director of The River.
With close to 80% of children living around Northport Drive qualifying for free or reduced lunch, school meals can be the only thing some students eat all day.
Realizing this need, the Madison school district continues its lunch program through the summer school session. But on weekends and days when school is out, many of these children can — and do — go hungry.
“There are a lot of kids where the parents work weekends and the kids are on their own,” says Czerkas.
To fill that gap, The River launched the Madison Urban Nutritional Children’s Hotspot (aka MUNCH) program in June, delivering lunches to kids in poor north-side neighborhoods on weekends and when schools are closed.
“I can’t believe we didn’t do this sooner. These kids have to eat.” says Czerkas. “The need is there — it’s obvious.”
The pantry team’s next stop is the Brentwood Village neighborhood, just south of Warner Park. Lunch delivery here starts slowly. A young girl with intricately braided hair comes by, then a mother holding a toddler. Some residents peek out of windows before coming down to get lunch.
Three kids on bikes ride by, check out the scene but don’t stop. “It takes time to trust us, and that’s fine,” says Steckel. The kids on bikes return, grab some burgers and peel away. Business turns brisk. Between this and another stop one block over, the pantry team goes through another 55 lunches in just 30 minutes.
The MUNCH program began serving lunches seven days a week when summer school ended Aug. 8; it will switch back to weekends-only (and when schools are closed), at the start of the school year.
The program has been aided by donations of food from Oscar Mayer and the Madison Mallards this summer and has arrangements to get surplus concession food from UW-Madison sporting events during the rest of the year.
MUNCH, which now also serves Kipling Drive, Vera Court and Karstens Drive, plans to add other neighborhoods next year.
“We’ll keep adding them until we hit every low-income neighborhood on the north side,” says Czerkas. “There’s 1,500-1,600 kids locally we could be serving, and we think that’s doable. We have to.”
Children living in low-income households around Northport Drive: 1,600
MUNCH lunches served daily in five neighborhoods: Almost 200
Staff and volunteers working the MUNCH program deliveries: 4-5
Food warmers used: 2
Schools in the Northport Drive corridor: Three elementary (Lindbergh, Mendota and Lakeview); One middle school (Black Hawk)
