Dear Families,
With school meals ending, here are some great options for food this summer!
Feed Our Children Summer Lunch Program
Tuesdays and Thursdays Starting June 4th.
You can pick up a free lunch for your child from 11:00-12:30 on those days at 359 Leonard St. North, West Salem (use the East Avenue door) Our Saviors Lutheran Church.
If there is someone who is unable to pick up lunches, they do have a limited amount of delivery spots available. Please send questions to feedourchildrenws@gmail.com.
Sign up for June meals here!
West Salem Care and Share
Our Saviors Lutheran Church (359 N. Leonard). Use the alley entrance.
West Salem, Barre Mills, Bangor, Rockland, and Mindoro communities.
Saturdays from 10 am – 12 pm
Will need to present 1 form of ID.
Contact Melody at 608-498-9099.
Volunteer opportunities available.
WAFER Food Pantry
1603 George St, La Crosse - (608) 782-6003
https://waferlacrosse.org/faqs/
Food distribution
Monday-Friday 10:00am – 12:45pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday Evenings 4:00pm – 7:45pm
Mobile Food Pantry - West Salem
Anytime Fitness Parking Lot. 1500 WI-16 Trunk, West Salem
1st Friday of each month 10:45am-11:45am.
Things you will need:
1. Photo ID with every visit.
2. Mail verification once a year or when you change place of residence for all members of the household. Mail needs to have been received within the last 30 days (i.e. cable bill, bank statement, lease, utility bill, Food Share statement, etc.)
To find additional summer meal sites near you:
Access the Summer Meals Site Finder on the Find a Summer Meals Site webpage
Call 211 to locate meals in the area
Text "food" (in English or Spanish) to 304-304
Visit the Summer Food Service Program webpage
Additional Resources: In need of additional information on how to obtain food? Hunger Free America operates the National Hunger Hotline on behalf of USDA. The hotline is a resource for individuals and families seeking information on how to obtain food. The National Hunger Hotline staff connects callers with emergency food providers in their community, government assistance programs, and various social services. The hotline can be reached at 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) or 1-877-8-HAMBRE (for Spanish) from Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET.
Summer EBT
If your household income qualifies your children for free or reduced price meals, they may qualify for the Summer EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) Program. Summer EBT is an income-based program that helps families buy food while school is out by providing them with $120 in benefits for each qualifying child. If your child already gets free or reduced price meals at our school, you do not need to do anything to get Summer EBT. If they don’t, to get Summer EBT: • You can apply for free and reduced price meals for them. If you are approved before August 29, 2024, then you will get Summer EBT. For more information, check out the attached flyer. If you have questions about the Summer EBT program, please call the Summer EBT team at 833431-2224 or email dhssebtsupport@wi.gov. Visit the Summer EBT webpage to learn more.
We look forward to continuing to serve our students next school year. Have a great summer and see you in the fall!
Sincerely,
Emily Klunk
Director of School Nutrition
Farm to School & Harvest of the Month
The Bangor School District participates in the Coulee Region Farm to School program, a partnership between the La Crosse County Health Department, Gundersen Health System and Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare. This program allows our school nutrition department to bring fresh, locally grown foods to serve to our students. The majority of these items are fruits and vegetables, but we also receive meat and dairy products. Each month there is a Farm to School newsletter featuring the Harvest of the Month with fun facts, nutrition information, uses and recipes.
Farm to School encourages students to try new foods that they may not otherwise be exposed to and teaches them about nutrition. Teaching children from a young age that fruits and vegetables are good for them and can be delicious makes it more likely that they will choose healthy foods throughout their lifetime. To learn more about the Farm to School program, click Here
Nutrition Services is a dedicated staff of Certified Nutrition and Food Safety Professionals. We strive to provide healthy, nutritious, and appealing meals in a variety that all students can enjoy. Buying local, providing Farm to School options, and working on sustainability in our food sources are all a focus of this department. We strongly believe that the overall wellness of our students is imperative to their ability to learn and engage in the classroom setting.
Bottled Water
Water bottles cannot be served as part of a school breakfast or lunch. This is due to a USDA regulation that we are required to follow in order to continue participating in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
Fluid milk is a required component of a reimbursable meal. Program operators must not promote or offer water, juice, or any other beverage as an alternative selection to fluid milk in a reimbursable meal throughout the food service area. Schools must not directly or indirectly restrict the sale or marketing of fluid milk (7 CFR 210.10(d)(4)).
Section 206 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) amended section 12 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act by establishing requirements related to the revenue from the sale of nonprogram foods. Under subsection 12(q) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and 7 CRF 210.14(f), SFAs are required to ensure:
• All revenue from the sale of nonprogram foods accrues to the non-profit school food service account; and
• Revenue available to support the production of reimbursable school meals does not subsidize the sale of nonprogram foods.
USDA Nondiscrimination Statement:
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
Email: program.intake@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
