news
Food
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“I’m glad to see some of that coming here
at home,” she said.
Program coordinator Javier Pulido said
that the influx of funds from Walmart has
allowed for program features that USDA
regulations have prevented in the past.
“With the Walmart money we were able to
reinstate snacks, which we had to stop
doing a couple of years ago because of the
economy,” Pulido said. “We are also part-
Last year’s program
served approximately
140,000 meals, and
4,200 children, and
this year they hope to
do more
nering with the library for them to do story
times in different languages for kids at
selected sites, we are doing a pilot Saturday
program, and we were able to increase the
number of sites that the parks department
has.”
Pulido said that last year’s program
served approximately 140,000 meals, and
4,200 children, and this year they hope to do
more.
“Of the number of kids in the Seattle
School District, approximately 35 percent
qualify for the program,” he said. Pulido
added that of those who qualify, only about
14 percent actually take advantage of these
services.
“It’s a very underutilized program,” he
said. Pulido believes that transportation
issues hinder participation levels. “We
don’t have sites in every location. The clos-
est site may still be a couple of miles away.
Even though that’s relatively close, if the
parents work or they don’t have transporta-
tion to get the kids there, they can’t access
it.”
David Takami, strategic communications
advisor for the city’s human services depart-
ment, which oversees the program, agreed
and said that publicity also affects participa-
tion.
“The challenge is getting the word out.
Schools during the school year are a captive
audience, and people know about the pro-
gram and take advantage of it because it’s
right there and the kids need to eat during
the day,” he said. “But our view is that they
need to eat healthy food and nutritious
meals during the summer, too.”
U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-7th
District) added that the need for continuing
the Summer Food Service Program is essen-
tial to the success of our children.
“Somehow, we think that kids lives end at
summer vacation and everything is beauti-
ful,” he said at the kickoff event. “It isn’t
for poor kids. Poor kids face the same prob-
lems in the summertime that they do the rest
of the year, that is how they get food, keep
themselves together and keep developing.”
In addition to major changes for this
year’s program such as the Walmart grant,
Pulido noted that internal economic
changes affected the 2011 program. He said
that he used to rely on college work-study
students as staff, benefiting from universi-
ties paying 70 percent of their salary. But
with state budget cuts, Pulido said work-
study programs were drastically reduced,
forcing him to pay 100 percent of his staff
this year.
“Next year we are really going to have to
look at the program and see if we can afford
to do that,” he said. “That will have a deep
impact for us next year.”
Despite Pulido’s concerns, Patricia Wells,
Pulido’s supervisor in the human services
department, said the city is committed to
supporting the program, even if it is in a
reduced form.
“We’ll make the adjustments to continue
the program next year,” said Wells.
Janelle wetzstein is a student in the
university of washington Department of
Communication news laboratory.
roots
continued from page 1
In addition to the new outlets, the renova-
tion will add more bathrooms and showers,
a larger laundry facility, and will provide
lockers for the guests.
“It will make it a better quality stay,”
Cunningham said. “It will be a space that
will function more efficiently.”
Brad Trenary, a board member of the
Raynier Institution and Foundation, said
they had been researching youth homeless-
ness for two years before finding the right
organizations to support.
“We went through a deliberate and specif-
ic process,” Trenary said. “We wanted to
find a way to make a significant impact on
a social problem.”
Their search came to an end in 2010 when
the Raynier Institution and Foundation
made a $7.75 million contribution to two
Seattle-based organizations that serve
homeless youth. One of them was
YouthCare, serving homeless and at-risk
Page 4 The Seattle Skanner July 6, 2011
youth aged 12 to 24, and the other was
ROOTS.
The $500,000 award to ROOTS was
decided upon in February 2010, and now
has officially been approved.
Renovations on ROOTS will begin in
August and last about three months.
Construction will take place during the day,
allowing the shelter to remain open without
much impact on the facility.
“One of the things that the Raynier
Institute and Foundation is really hopeful
about, is that this major investment into
helping youth homelessness will invite
other organizations and individuals to step
up to the plate to contribute,” Trenary said
of the grant.
lauren Dire is a student in the university
of
washington
Department
of
Communication news laboratory.