Marie Boneparth: Getting food to kids through the Locker Project
Every month PelotonLabs co-founder Liz Trice interviews a local community member. This month, Liz caught up with Marie Boneparth, who is on the board of the Locker Project, a non-profit that works to get healthy food to kids and their families through school systems in Greater Portland.
How serious is the food security issue in Greater Portland? How can kids be hungry?
In the three school districts we serve, there are more than 6,000 students who are from low-income families and at risk of going hungry in the evening, over the weekend, and during school breaks. No parent wants their child to go hungry, and families do everything they can to make sure their kids get enough to eat.
People who are food insecure come from all walks of life. Whether it is someone whose family has been in Maine for generations or a new Mainer. There is no one kind of family who needs assistance and the reasons are many.
Food insecurity got a lot of attention last year because the schools were closed and people weren’t working. But there is an even higher level of requests now than last year. There’s one school where we bring over one hundred bags of food per week for kids to take home to their families. Last spring it was sixty-five bags.
How did the Locker Project get started, and where is it today?
Ten years ago, Katie Wallace, a parent at the East End School, noticed that at daily snack time, there were a lot of kids who didn’t have anything to eat. Some kids wouldn’t always get a good meal when they went home at night and would come to school in the morning hungry. It’s a lot of hours to be sitting in a classroom and thinking and participating if you haven’t had enough to eat. So she started sending snacks for everyone in her child’s classroom. And in 2013 she partnered with Good Shepherd Food Bank to set up a pantry in a school office, and then the next year they created a nonprofit organization with a board.
Now, in addition to snacks, we provide bags of produce and pantry staples for school staff to send home with kids. We serve all of Portland, Westbrook, and South Portland schools, nine Head Start locations, and the Boys and Girls Clubs. About six hundred bags per week in total.
We rescue produce and baked goods from Hannaford and Shaws, Rosemont and Standard Baking, and order food from Good Shepherd Food Bank. And we have a new program called Farms to Families where we are partnering with local farms. We host several farmers market-type events each week where anyone can show up and shop for produce and staples, sometimes meat. Everything is free.
Don’t schools provide breakfasts and lunches for everyone? Is there stigma with kids taking free food?
In every school that participates in the federal school lunch program, there is free lunch and breakfast available. Up until last year, you had to fill out paperwork to qualify for free or reduced lunch. But now, breakfast and lunch are free from the federal government regardless of income, and in Maine we passed a law so that will continue.
More and more families are saying, “This is great, my kid can just eat the school lunch.” The more kids participate, the more federal funding there is, and the better the programs will be. But snacks aren’t covered, and some kids aren’t getting good meals at home at night. That’s where the Locker Project comes in.
By relying on volunteers and working through the schools, we’re engaging the whole community in making sure this generation of kids has a strong start. We encourage everyone to take something home from our events, including teachers at schools and our volunteers.
Most of the produce we share with families has been rescued, so everyone who participates is helping to reduce food waste in the community.
What’s your background?
I’m a physical therapist and have two kids that are five and seven. I started with The Locker Project as a volunteer three or four years ago. I wanted to help with hunger in my community, and one of my patients who works at a food bank recommended it. Also, I wanted volunteer work where I could bring my kids, since I didn’t have childcare. We would go to the warehouse, load up with food and snacks, and then stock up the pantry at the Ocean Ave school. And my kids enjoyed it. They go with me to a fresh food event every week. I tell them that not all families can access food as easily as others, and we want to do what we can to help them get the food that they need.
How can people help?
We want people to know that lots of families are still struggling. We’re looking for financial support. Monthly donors are really helpful. We also need volunteers. There are volunteer shifts many days of the week packing food. We need people to do pickups from Standard Baking, and we need people at our fresh food events.
How can people get food if they need it?
Parents can let their child’s school social worker know that they would like to receive bags of produce or staples. The fresh food events are open to anyone whether they have kids or not. Check the Locker Project website and our facebook page for the event schedule.
More information:
Donate or Volunteer: http://mainelockerproject.org
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