Two distinct objectives outlined below support the goal for the establishment of the nutritional food program to be named the Quick Bites Café:
· Providing food with increased nutritional value to help decrease hunger among children attending the academy.
· Nutritious snacks and meals to help support parents and caregivers to aid in the healing process and increase family time at home.
The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas is a promising organization with a heart for serving children whose parent or caregiver is undergoing cancer treatment in the community of west central Pinellas County, Florida. As the organization grows, the academy feels obligated to enhance its childcare services by establishing a complimentary food program that will provide nourishment for the children as well as providing additional support for the parent or caregiver.
The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas is augmenting its community outreach program to include providing more wholesome snacks and nutritious meals to help reduce hunger among children. The academy currently provides simple snacks for the children like Cheerios, Goldfish, pretzels and animal crackers. While these snack foods are popular with the children, they lack proper nutrition for children who may be hungry due to missing a nourishing meal at home. The academy will begin providing more wholesome snacks like yogurt, fruit and carrot sticks along with a variety of organic and non-GMO snack foods. Nutritious meals will include a light breakfast, lunch and/or dinner for the children in our care. The Quick Bites Café menu will follow heart healthy guidelines as closely as possible to further ensure proper nutrition is achieved.
The snacks and meals will be provided on a complimentary basis for each child during their time at the academy. Snacks are currently provided by the owner of the academy with occasional donations of fruit and cookies by Publix Super Market. The new wholesome snack foods will be made available to the academy through donations from Publix Super Market and Whole Foods Market on a continual basis. The academy will cease serving non-nutritional snacks and begin offering a wider variety of wholesome snack foods by the end of October, 2015. The Quick Bites Café will begin serving a light breakfast, lunch and/or dinner to the children on a daily basis within the next two years.
Offering children nutritious food while attending the academy will help relieve stress on the parent or caregiver by offering an alternative to packing a lunch or preparing a meal at home for the child before or after a treatment session. Receiving complimentary nourishment at the academy will help the parent or caregiver save time and money and allow them to concentrate more fully on their treatment and recovery. It will also help pave the way for more quality family time together.
Currently, many of the parents or caregivers rely on the snacks provided by the academy to tide the children over while they are in our care. Some parents send a packed lunch with their child, but often it is not enough to sustain the child should their stay last longer than expected. Often, after a tiresome treatment session, a child’s nutrition is dependent on a fast food drivethrough restaurant for the sake of simplicity as they head home for the afternoon or evening. The Quick Bites Café will offer more wholesome snack food choices and meals, alleviate the need to pack a lunch and help ease the worry of providing a nutritious meal prior to or after treatment on the days the children attend the academy. Providing children complimentary wholesome snacks along with a nutritious food program will afford parents and caregivers a better option to unhealthy fast food, ease potential financial burdens and help alleviate stress. Supporting the parent or caregiver in easing stress can be very beneficial in the healing process. Parents and caregivers will be able to reap the benefits of the food program immediately upon commencement of providing wholesome snacks by the end of October, 2015 and nutritious meals within the next two years.
The Quick Bites Café is a unique outreach program that will act as a building block in helping to create a healthier community through nutrition and support.