Le monde
HAVING THEIR BACKS SECURING CHILDREN’S FUTURES THROUGH FOOD By Sa llie W. Boyles
T
he start of kindergarten is a momentous occasion that can be as much of a growth experience for parents as it is for their little ones. The Nelsons never anticipated what they’d learn and subsequently accomplish as a family and a community upon enrolling their eldest of three children in a Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, public school. Nine years ago, Tiffanie Nelson was filling out kindergarten enrollment paperwork when she encountered some surprising questions. Were issues like hunger and homelessness concerns for her family? Clearly, they were not, and she wondered why her neighborhood’s elementary school would inquire about students’ basic life needs. “I have never met anyone who thought hunger in children existed in their community,” Nelson says. Neither did she. Nevertheless, she recalls, “I went home and started Googling for information about children and hunger, and I came across the term food insecurity.”
on homework but being riddled with hunger.” Wasting no time, she called the school’s principal. Their conversation was eye-opening. Yes, students in their elementary depended on the school’s breakfasts and lunches for meals, and that wasn’t enough. “I wasn’t in a position to start a charity,” says Nelson, “but I was driven to start an effort.” She requested help from her pastor, and with a three-hundred-dollar donation from their church, they provided food for six children that week. “We quickly found we could serve an unmet need.” In 2010, Nelson established Food For Thought Outreach, a privately funded 501(c)(3) charitable organization which works to “bridge the gap between school meals during the weekend and holiday breaks.” Through a coordinated effort, requiring two-hundred-fifty volunteer hours per week, Food For Thought delivers health-conscious foods (for breakfast, snacks, and the main meal) weekly to three thousand children who receive either free or subsidized meals at thirtytwo schools within Florida’s Walton and Okaloosa counties.
“I imagined a child, sitting in a chair, trying to focus on homework but being riddled with hunger.”
The USDA defines the condition as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life.” “First,” Nelson relays, “I thought how horrible it must feel to be a parent in that situation, and what the stress and anxiety would feel like from not being able to provide for a child. Second, I imagined a child, sitting in a chair, trying to focus 92 | NO V E MBE R 2018
“We use six thousand pieces of produce each week,” Nelson reveals. The sheer volume—their first food order of the 2018–2019 school year arrived at Food For Thought’s headquarters in Santa Rosa Beach on seventeen pallets—necessitates using food brokers to source the best deals. A variety of events entice individuals,
