In November of 2015, we asked a local school principal, "do you have students who are food insecure over the weekends?"
In February of 2016, we started supplying food bags to 26 students in 2 Elementary Schools in Milford.
By Fall 2017, through the generosity of individuals and community partners, we were serving kids at all of our elementary, middle and high schools.
By March 2019, we had delivered over 100,000 lbs of food!
During the pandemic we supported students and famlies through partnering with Milford Public School's Food Services.
By May 2023, we were serving 200+ youth in 16 schools; engaging volunteers of all ages; supporting model share programs; collaborating with community partners; and continuing to adapt to pandemic impact on food insecurity.
We're more than just weekend food bags! We work closely with social workers and other staff members at each school to meet the needs of some of our families whose circumstances have changed due to a lost job, illness or change in family dynamic, etc.
We supply each child in our program with a warm hoodie each year as the temperature drops. One child literally jumped up and down as he hugged his hoodie and shouted out how happy he was because he and his little siblings wouldn't be cold any longer. Sad, but true.
Several children in our program took advantage of our Summer Camp Scholarship Program attending a free week of camp at the Boys and Girls Club Camp which alleviated the burden of finding and paying for child care for working parents.
Food 2 Kids awarded scholarships to a graduating senior from each of our high schools, Foran High, Jonathan Law and Platt Tech. Each recipient met the criteria for financial need and was planning to major in a helping field such as social work, nursing, teaching, special education, psychology, etc.
We continued to share our model with other towns and cities that are under-resourced. To date, Stratford, Waterbury, Goshen, Orange, Ansonia and Bridgeport have all started successful programs.
Milford Food 2 Kids
34 West Main Street
Milford, CT 06460
(203) 258-8182 or (203) 877-4277
milfordfood2kids@gmail.com
Milford Food 2 Kids is an initiative of the First United Church of Christ, Milford, in collaboration with CT Food Bank, to attend to the needs of local children who have little or no food during the weekend away from school.
