CCS Northern Utah bridges the hunger gap

Friday, Jul. 04, 2014

OGDEN — Bridging the Gap – Child Hunger Relief Program is a program of Catholic Community Services Northern Utah that works as an extension of the food pantry.

The program supplements the free meals that children in Weber County receive through the school and the summer food program by providing easy-to-prepare food for the weekend. 

CCS serves approximately 2,300 households each month through the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank.  During the summer months the Bridging the Gap program expects to serve children each week with six to eight meals, for an estimated total of 10,800 summer meals. 

“We received a $25,000 grant from the Arby’s Foundation for the program;” CCS then raised matching funds, said Marcie Valdez, director of CCS Northern Utah. “During the summer the Utah State Office of Education provides a free lunch at the park for children who need help with the food;  our program will help to bridge that gap of when they get that free meal at the park or at the school and the weekend, when they might be going without a meal.”

Bridging the Gap is free for children between the ages of 2 to 18. 

 “It’s in the summer when the children are at greater risk of going hungry since they are not getting the breakfast and lunch at school they would normally get when the school is in session,” said Valdez.

According to statistics gathered by CCS, Weber County has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the nation.  In Utah, 1 in 5 children face hunger. In the Weber and Ogden school districts, 16,000 children are on free and reduced lunch programs. 

“Hunger in Utah is a big problem. … It’s great that through the Arby’s Foundation and other community members we have been able to offer this program,” Valdez said. “For the first year of the program we estimated a cost of $54,000 and we still have ways to go to fund the program, but we have some great individuals and businesses that have stepped up and we hope as the community learns more about what we are doing, they will continue to support us with donations as well.”

Bridging the Gap started June 6 and will run all year long. During the school year, the program will serve four elementary schools, two in the Weber School District and two in the Ogden School District. Each school has approximately 600 students. The goal will be to serve 2,400 children each month during the nine-month school year.  

“This is an estimated 129,600 meals (21,600 bags with six meals each),” said Valdez.

“Receiving so many ‘thank-yous’ from the littlest people is great,” said Valdez, encouraging the community to make donations to the program.

For information about Bridging the Gap or for donations to the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank call  80-1–394-5944 or visit http://www.ccsutah.org/.

Bridging the Gap targets

2-4 Summer Feeding sites – 600 children per month, 10,800 meals – estimated cost per child $2.50

Cost - $1500 per month 

4 Elementary schools – 2,400 children per month, 129,600 meals – estimated cost per child $2.50

Cost - $6,000 per month, $1,500 per school per month