Around 40 volunteers work every week for Nourish Children in Catoosa to provide 1,500 bag lunches for school children to take home over the weekends.
Bags await food that will go to children in Catoosa schools thanks to Nourish Children in Catoosa, an organization started in 2010 by Theo and Nan Pinkston.
Once a month, a crew from Shaw Industries shows up at Ringgold United Methodist Church to move 3,000 pounds of food into a storage area for Nourish Children in Catoosa, a food assistance program.
Around 40 volunteers work every week for Nourish Children in Catoosa to provide 1,500 bag lunches for school children to take home over the weekends.
Bags await food that will go to children in Catoosa schools thanks to Nourish Children in Catoosa, an organization started in 2010 by Theo and Nan Pinkston.
Once a month, a crew from Shaw Industries shows up at Ringgold United Methodist Church to move 3,000 pounds of food into a storage area for Nourish Children in Catoosa, a food assistance program.
Every Monday during the school year, rain or shine, holiday or not, the efforts of more than 40 volunteers and many donors culminate in nearly 1,500 bag meals for school children to take home over the weekend.
In 2010, Theo and Nan Pinkston started Nourishing Children in Catoosa (NCIC) with the goal of providing a little extra food for kids from families who might be struggling financially.
Sharon Hardin, finance and procurement director for the nonprofit, says the Pinkstons and their helpers adopted West Side Elementary as their first school and put together 100 lunch bags a week to start with. By the end of its first year, NCIC was serving children in four schools. Now its up to 11, including 345 lunches a week at West Side.
“There’s often a gap between Friday and Saturday,” says Hardin, “when no food is available at home. A parent can’t get a paycheck cashed before Saturday morning or can’t get to the store before then. Or sometimes it’s just hard for parents to keep enough food on hand.”
The need, says Hardin, seems to have grown. “We’re doing about 200 bags a week more this year than last.”
Once the lunch bags are assembled, they’re delivered to the individual schools and typically handed out through the school counselor to students whose parents have expressed a need for them.
The process of food procurement, bag assembly and delivery is an impressive undertaking. Last month, NCIC distributed more than 5,000 pounds of food, split into around 6,000 sack meals.
Each bag contains seven items, including protein, nutritious fruit and snacks (such applesauce and gummies with added vitamin C), as well as a dessert.
So, in one month: 6,000 bags, 6,000 one-serving dinners, 6,000 breakfast bars, 6,000 servings of applesauce, 6,000 servings of cereal. You get the idea. Also, 12,000 staples each month to secure the bags.
The food comes from a variety of sources. NCIC purchases a major portion of its food from the Chattanooga Food Bank, which also provides training and inspections. Other food comes from the Dalton Warehouse of the Atlanta Food Bank. NCIC purchases some food from Sam’s Warehouse and Costco and some is donated from other places.
The food is paid for through grants and private donations, as well as a substantial amount from the annual Ringgold United Methodist Church yard sale. Last year, says Hardin, Modern Woodman, did matching grant funding that resulted in a $2,500 donation.
But both grant funding and donations are down this year. A United Way grant NCIC has counted on for a long time was half this year compared to last year, due to general donations being down.
The cost of each bag of food is double this year over what it was last year and far more than double NCIC’s best years, says Hardin. At one point, when the group had help from the Georgia Nutrition Assistance Program, the food was costing around 40 cents per bag. Applesauce was four cents per individual serving compared to the 27 cents it is now. Now the cost of a bag meal is $1.69. That’s $2,535 a week.
“Even the cost of the paper bags is up,” says Hardin, “from two cents each last year to six cents this year.
Hardin says she may apply for a North Georgia Electric Membership Corporation “Round-up” grant this year, something she has avoided in the past because she didn’t want to take money from other causes that might need it just as much.
The logistics of managing 10,500 food items each week -– getting them stocked, packed and delivered –- takes a team.
Pat Brinsfield is the volunteer coordinator who keeps track of around 40 regular volunteers, as well as groups of Scouts, youth groups and others who sometimes help. She sends out reminders and keeps careful records. Her husband, John, a retired Army chaplain, opens each packing day with prayer.
Susan Jackson -– or “Bin Master and Line Boss,” as her fellow volunteers like to call her –- keeps the assembly lines on packing day running smoothly and can be counted on to drum up extra donations.
But everything starts before packing day.
Hardin must first order the food that is needed. “Most of what we want is available from the food banks,” she says, “but sometimes they’re short and we have to go searching for items.”
For instance, says Hardin, peanut butter crackers are considered a staple for the bags and some stores have limits on what an individual customer can buy. On those occasions, volunteers scramble to find what’s needed.
Once Hardin has all the food ordered for a month, it is delivered on pallets to Ringgold United Methodist, host of the project. The pallets are stacked in the gymnasium but cannot remain there because of church activities.
Enter a group of around a dozen strong volunteers from Shaw Industries. “They come over on a lunch break and move all that food into the storage area,” says Hardin.
On Monday, food has to be brought out and organized. Tables are set up and the bag openers cover tables with open bags, ready to be filled.
Fillers are assigned to particular items: applesauce people, gummy people, cereal people.
Next, folders fold the tops of the bags over and staplers seal them with two staples each.
When all the bags are ready, bin fillers place them in predetermined bins for the 11 schools they’ll be delivered to.
Finally, delivery men Rial Sloan and James Lambert, along with a couple of other volunteers, load up nearly 100 bins and transport them to the schools on Tuesday mornings.
But that’s not quite the end. All that food comes packed in cardboard boxes that must be broken down and readied for recycling. The gymnasium where everyone was working must be returned to its original order.
“This project doesn’t only help the children,” says Hardin. “It blesses the volunteers, too. We have people come from other churches to help. We kept the program going during COVID-19 and some of our brave older volunteers masked up and kept coming. Theo Pinkston who started this whole thing with his wife still comes and helps.”
Everyone is invited to help however they can. Individual volunteers can just show up at Ringgold United Methodist on Mondays at 1 p.m. For groups, Hardin says it helps to have some advance notice.
Donations can be made by check to Ringgold United Methodist with “NCIC” written on the memo line of the check. Address: 7484 Nashville St., Ringgold, GA, 30736
For more information, contact Sharon Hardin at 423-488-8454.
You can visit the NCIC Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NourishingChildrenInCatoosa.
Tamara Wolk is a reporter for The Catoosa County News in Ringgold, Ga., and Walker County Messenger in LaFayette, Ga.
Everyone is invited to help however they can. Individual volunteers can just show up at Ringgold United Methodist on Mondays at 1 p.m. For groups, it helps to have some advance notice.
Donations can be made by check to Ringgold United Methodist with “NCIC” written on the memo line of the check. Address: 7484 Nashville St., Ringgold, GA, 30736
For more information, contact Sharon Hardin at 423-488-8454.
You can visit the NCIC Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NourishingChildrenInCatoosa.
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