Food Security
ASSISTING the NUTRITIONAL NEEDS of OUR COMMUNITY
Food stamps, school breakfasts and school lunches are not enough to tide many hard working families over. Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission provides a variety of services to help families, children, individuals and senior citizens meet their nutritional needs and stretch their food resource.
- Emergency Food Pantries — are available for those without food on their shelves at home, or those waiting for food stamp benefits to start.
- Farmer’s Market Coupons — are sometimes available in the summer months for seniors to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables from their local Farmer’s Market.
- Garden and Seed Project—each spring, all 8 Neighborhood Centers conduct a Garden and Seed project. Households are eligible to receive vegetable plants and seeds to grow their own produce at home or in a community garden plot. This helps our customers feed their families over the summer months with highly nutritious and healthy meals grown right in their back yard. Watch your County Neighborhood Center’s Facebook page for notice of date and time for this year’s Garden and Seed Project.
- Summer Nutrition Program – Provides, at no cost, balanced, nutritious meals to all children 18 years of age and younger to ensure that nutritional needs are met during the long summer vacation, when they do not have access to school lunch or breakfast.
- Head Start Program — Head Start promotes child wellness by providing nutrition services that help children get a good healthy start. Children are served breakfast, lunch and a snack to meet 2/3rds of their daily nutritional needs. The menus are planned to consider nutrition, personal, and cultural preferences as well as the introduction of healthy foods which broaden the child’s food experiences. Meals are served family style and parents receive nutrition information throughout the year.
- Parent Education – Head Start staff promote good family nutrition by providing training for parents on such topics as Stretching Your Food Dollar, How To Cook Thanksgiving Dinner, Heathy Snacks for Young Children, and Good Nutrition for Healthy Families. We also assist with access to Registered
- Dietitians at no charge to our families.
Call the Neighborhood Center in your county to see what programs are available where you live.
The number of working families facing “food insecurity” is on the rise. Food insecurity is the uncertainty of where the next meal is coming from, the inability to purchase nutritious foods, or when adults (and even children) skip meals or eat less than they should to stretch food dollars to the max. For information about how you can help, click here.
If you would like to support one of our Neighborhood Centers please consider donating any of the following:
Nonperishable food and health/hygiene kits (such as shampoo, soap, sanitary products, toothpaste, toothbrushes), paper products and cleaning products (diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies and wipes) for various programs and client needs
