Chartwells and district celebrate Food for the Summer award and expansion of summer meal service

District child nutrition leaders and Chartwells staff presented the Food for the Summer program's results and a national award during the Nov. 21 board meeting.

Liz Cortano, director of child nutrition for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, introduced Chartwells staff and described program growth: after partnering with Food for the Summer the program served 44,000 meals last summer and more than 200,000 meals since the partnership began. Chartwells reported that the Food for the Summer program won the national Compass in the Community Award; Chartwells/Compass will donate the $8,000 award to the public school foundation to support 2020 summer meal outreach.

Staff credited a broad volunteer network (IFC, UNC partners, Porch and Table, Book Harvest and others), district coordination and grant support for expanding meal distribution and enrichment activities that accompanied feeding sites (book distribution, enrichment camps). The district also noted the financial condition of the food-service fund: the recent audit reported a $154,000 loss for the program but improvements over prior years; supplemental transfers from general and state public school funds were cited as ongoing supports.

Board members thanked staff and community partners and congratulated student-athletes recognized earlier in the meeting.

Next steps: staff will post procurement/RFP information for upcoming food services and continue partnership work to expand summer meal access and enrichment offerings.