CHIP partners with Pulaski Summer Feeding
Children and their parents lined up for free hot dogs and watermelon at Randolph Park at a special event in June to raise awareness for the Summer Meals for Kids program. The Randolph Park pool welcomed 120 participants of the Summer Meals for Kids program for a free swim after their meal.
NRCA’s Children’s Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP) of New River Valley provided the kick-off event meal free for the whole family as part of CHIP’s outreach efforts. CHIP Outreach Specialist, Shelby Kelley, was on site passing out information about CHIP. Kelley noted, “CHIP has Family Educators and Registered Nurses that go into the home and help lower-income families with resources and provide developmental screenings. The event helped open doors to families about CHIP.”
Every year, the Summer Meals for Kids Program offers free food to students attending Pulaski County Public Schools and adults accompanying children are offered a meal for $2.00.
This is the first time Pulaski County Public Schools held the kick-off event, hoping this was a way to get the word out about summer meals so every student that needs a meal in the summertime would know where the sites are located. In addition to offering free breakfast and free lunch every weekday at Pulaski County High School, Dublin Elementary School and other open sites, the summer feeding program added Randolph Park as a new daily meal site.
When a No Kid Hungry program email came to NRCA, Ms. Kelley requested to set up a CHIP table at the kick-off event, hoping to reach out to families. The request turned into an ongoing partnership with the Pulaski School Nutrition Summer Meals for Kids program. The School offered to help to purchase more CHIP water bottles filled with program information for families.
Ms. Kelley also participated at the mini-carnival at the Central Gym and at the youth center. CHIP gave Blue Ridge Fudge Lady fudge and ice cream certificates, drawstring bags, and Pulaski Yankee tickets. Pulaski Yankees and Randolph Park provided a match to provide tickets for more families. Kids were excited about the incentives and parents were thrilled to share activities as a family.
Ms. Kelley noted that children love to reach into her “treasure chest” at events and it attracts parents to her CHIP information table. Ms. Kelley also made some excellent connections to the Pulaski community. She has been asked to come share information about CHIP at a local apartment complex. She is even considering a snow cone machine to entice children and parents to her table to learn about CHIP services. CHIP can help local police departments and human service agencies reach out if a family needs services.
CHIP hopes these events help spread the word about program services. Ms. Kelley seeks not only to increase referrals of families but to also partner with local businesses who may not be aware of CHIP. Kelly noted, “The more people are reached through these events; the more people know what we do and how vital those services can be to our community.”
