View the original article written on No Kid Hungry - Georgia: https://state.nokidhungry.org/georgia/2024/08/28/coming-together-what-summer-means-for-gordon-county/
Amidst the hot and busy summer, dedicated staff are in a frenzy trying to turn off some malfunctioning sprinklers that suddenly went off in their freezer. For 45 minutes straight, they all jump in eagerly to find a solution and clean the mess. Even after the unfortunate accident, they willingly adapted and reconfigured their whole day. Nicole Head, Gordon County’s Nutrition Director, is in awe as she sees the depth of what her summer staff does each and every day.
Gordon County has one of the highest numbers of summer meals served in the state: 300,000 meals. This is all made possible because of the tight knit community that plays all kinds of roles and complements each other in crucial ways.
Reaching the Community
When asked what is the key to a successful, sustainable summer feeding program, Nicole Head emphasizes “incredible staff” over and over again. Internally, she receives great support from cafeteria staff that already make nutritious meals for kids.. At the same time, para professionals, the maintenance department, and principals collaborate with her to conduct outreach to students and families, put together flyers, and even provide vans needed to make the program work. Athletic directors and coaches also play an important role in reaching kids, as they host popular camps during the summer months.
Over the past couple years, Nicole has found new opportunities and learnings by developing external relationships with those outside of the school system and nutrition space. “We have one specific place that I think of because it’s close [to school] and a lot of our community in that area only has one vehicle. So if we set up in that park, it’s safe for the one parent that stays home to walk to with their children, and it’s close to the actual school where we are,” says Nicole. This is what pushed Nicole to pursue a relationship with the Parks and Recreation Department. With their support, Nicole was able to set up a summer meal site at a busy splash pad. Collaborations with these external partners make it easier for families to have access to food in the summer – an utmost priority for Nicole and her team.
Innovation Through Invaluable Insights
Another critical relationship for Gordon County’s summer non-congregate feeding program has been with Gordon County’s Department of Transportation. Recently, the school district invested in software that identifies student demographics in the district. “We can zoom into a neighborhood and we can see if there’s one student in the house, if there’s multiple students in the house, things like that,” Nicole explains. She sat down with their transportation director and her operation specialist, and “just looked at where the households are heavily populated and where we just have a lot of students. If we were getting close to those places, if they were having to walk far or anything like that, and how we could get closer to those households that do have a heavy population, or even the neighborhoods that have a heavy population that would have to drive far.”
Through this innovative software and partnership, Nicole is able to pinpoint her communities’ needs and make her non-congregate summer program even more impactful. This flourishing summer feeding program would not exist without the partnerships and skills of all kinds of individuals. A big reason we see these proactive, invested relationships is because many share the same sentiment: “it’s not just about the Gordon County students and families, it’s the Gordon County community.”
- No Kid Hungry Georgia