Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Albion lunch program
Volunteers serve lunch from behind the counter at the former Albion school Tuesday. From left to right, they are Sammy Gallagher, a young helper, Mary Collins and Rhonda Anderson.
A new summer lunch program for kids in Albion has passed its midpoint.
Organized to run 10 weeks, starting June 19, the program offers sack lunches for any kid enrolled in school, for no charge.
The program is funded by donations.
“Money, time and product,” said Starr Cathey, Albion town clerk/treasurer who was instrumental in its launch, along with volunteer Mary Collins, who interviewed Cathey last year as part of a study on poverty in Whitman County led by the League of Women Voters.
In March, Cathey committed to the idea and approached businesses in Pullman and beyond for support.
Avista, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, South Fork, Porchlight Pizza and various city council members and residents responded.
Wednesday, July 19, a woman donated and arrived with Pizza Hut for the assembled.
The program has no income qualifications. With food served cafeteria-style at 11 a.m., kids eat in the Albion park – on the picnic tables, under trees or sitting on playground equipment.
Volunteers prepare the food in the former Albion school's downstairs kitchen, next to the park. The brick building now serves as the town hall, museum and library.
“There is not a free program in Whitman County,” Cathey said of the lunch. “I just think there is a need.”
So far the numbers seem to back her up, with as many as 47 kids showing up one day, from Albion and elsewhere.
After eating, activities take place at the park on many days. On Tuesdays, a volunteer has come down and organized baseball. The Albion branch of the Whitman County Library runs the activity on Wednesdays.
In the kitchen, the adult volunteers get help from local kids such as Hunter Recknagle, 9, who is there every day.
“He's a huge help,” said Cathey.
Ingredients for lunches come from stores as well as the Albion Community Garden, a 40x80 plot next to the post office, in which volunteers grow carrots, lettuce, onions, squash, sugar-snap peas and more.
The lunch program runs Monday through Thursday, with the option on Thursday to request an extra bag lunch to take home.
Donations keep coming. One recent offering was $40 worth of juice boxes.
The intent of the organizers is to feed 25 kids Monday through Thursday for 10 weeks. At the end, the leaders will analyze how it went. It is designed to be a summer program only.
Each day, about six adult volunteers come down and run it, arriving at 10:30 a.m. The program runs under the auspices of the Albion Food Pantry, for which Cathey serves as director.
At the start of fundraising last year, Cathey found out the town is not eligible for USDA grants because it is part of the Pullman district, which raises the poverty level.
She is set to apply anyway this fall.
“We're not (eligible), but we're still gonna try,” she said.
One way or another, it appears the program will continue next year.
“Nobody's given us a reason not to,” said Collins. “It's not only rewarding, it's kind of fun. The kids are a hoot.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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