Our fourth Summer Lunch Program has concluded and on behalf of the Invitation & Outreach Committee, we would like to extend a big thank you to all our members and friends who helped to make this another successful mission activity. With your effort and support, 840 lunches were provided to 23 children in 9 Pitman families. Thank you to the many who contributed time packing and/or distributing lunch boxes. We are proud to have a church community that continues to care for others through this and similar missions. Read the full report below.
2018 Summer Lunch Program Report
In its fourth year, the Summer Lunch Program sponsored by The First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ, provided 840 lunches to 23 Pitman children. These children were eligible during the school year for free or reduced lunches and represented 9 families.
The funding for the program this year came from a $1000 grant from Presbytery, and donations from the Pitman Food Pantry, the Pitman Methodist Church, members of our congregation, friends of our members, Acme, and Inspira.
The amount of money spent on the food was $2021. There were 900 lunches packed for a cost of $2.25 per lunch. At the end of the program there were 60 lunches remaining and these were given to the Pitman Food Pantry.
In addition to the lunches that were provided, the Methodist Church collected toiletries for the families. Families expressed gratitude for all these gifts.
Several key elements contributed to the success of the program.
The Pitman School System provided support by communicating to the eligible families that free lunches were going to be available on the agreed upon dates and times. They also developed a system for those families who needed duplicate copies of the eligibility letter.
Alyssa Koenig, Church Administrator, provided support in making punch cards, record sheets and other administrative documents for accurate reporting as well as sending out announcements via Constant Contact.
Purchasing and packing the lunches was done by not only members of the First Presbyterian Church, but also several members of the Methodist Church. Members of the Wenonah Memorial Presbyterian Church volunteered every other week to help with distributing lunches.
This year the program was truly a community project and many parents expressed gratitude for this local mission outreach activity. We hope to continue this program in the future and provide this much needed nourishment for even more children.
Sandy Lovelace and Betsy Wriggins, Coordinators, Summer Lunch Program