Tracking Our Progress
On the day the Bethlehem Center closed because of COVID-19, we knew that we did not want food insecurity to heighten for kids who were unable to go back to school. We committed to delivering meals to any school-aged child who was in need, and food distribution quickly became our way of caring for students who could not come to the Beth.
What started out as delivering 35 sack lunches flourished into serving as many as 170 children per day! It did not take long for us to see the reality of the pandemic and its effects, so we planned for our food distribution to expand and reach more people.
As our efforts increased, we saw that the need was not going away any time soon. To get a better picture of the magnitude of food that students and families received, we began tracking the data so that the need in the community could become more tangible.
Since March 15th, 2020 we have distributed over 26,000 servings of food, including daily lunches, weekly dinners, and monthly produce boxes. Currently, our monthly totals equal around 2,000 pounds of food! Seeing these numbers is important because we care about the well being of the children and families in this community, whether they are with us at the Beth or have been staying home since the pandemic began. Getting to see the joy on the faces of the people we serve gives us all hope that there are greater things ahead as we navigate these times together.
Written By:
Nicole Elmore
Logistics Coordinator at the Bethlehem Center
