Community Kitchen

This is your weekly reminder that it's summer and so we're here, providing healthy weekday lunches all summer through the last day before students go back to school.

Lunches include proteins, grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and milk. One of our routes serves sack lunches while the other (food truck) route serves a warm lunch meal. Any child can access a meal at any of these stops, no questions asked.

Route 1 (Monday – Friday)
The Reserve at Chandler's Glenn - 10:30am – 10:50am (picnic shelter)
Arlington Valley Mobile Home Park -10:55am – 11:15am (behind the office)
Walnut Woods - 11:25am – 11:45am (across from the playground)
Henderson Court Apartments- 11:50am - 12:10pm (near the playground)
MCPL Southwest Branch- 12:20pm-12:40pm (near the amphitheater)
Southcrest Estates - 12:45pm-1:10pm (near the playground)

Route 2 (Monday – Friday)
Crestmont Community (Illinois Court) - 10:30am - 11:00am (at the playground on Illinois Court)
Highland Park Elementary - 11:15am -11:45am (in the drive near the playground)
Limestone Crossing - 12:00pm -12:30pm (at the playground)
Country View Apartments - 12:45pm - 1:15pm (at the playground)

We are steadily working our way through the month of June. Our summer program is in full swing, bringing in new volunteers to help. During the summer, we are lucky to have visiting family members come in with volunteers and we have an influx of youth volunteers helping while they are out of school. Kids 10-13 can come with an adult, 14 and older can volunteer by themselves. Not only is volunteering a confidence-builder, but it is a great way to start conversations with your kids about what it means to be hungry and not have enough money to feed yourself properly. By coming here to volunteer, they can see compassion in action and feel empowered to help lift up our neighbors when they need a little help. You can set up shifts for you and/or your family by contacting me at 812-332-0999 or [email protected].

We're in week 3 of our Summer Food Service Program! We go to 10 neighborhoods, distributing lunches to kids. We know that summer can be tough for families as they try to absorb the additional groceries needed when the kids are home all day. This program is designed to give families a little relief by providing lunch for the kids, ensuring they get the nutrition they need. We will continue throughout the summer until August 4th, the day before school starts.

If you want to help with this program, please contact us about volunteering. The delivery shift is from 9:45am-1:30pm and one volunteer goes on each route, along with a staff member who is driving. You will hand out lunches and help staff keep track of the meals served. You can schedule a weekly shift, or schedule less often if that works better for you.

If you're interested, email at [email protected] or call 812-332-0999 to get signed up.

Our Community Kitchen Express location is open and serving from 4-6pm on Mon-Sat at 1100 W 11th St. Folks can receive one warm meal and one cold meal, both in carryout form; no questions asked. Generally, the same food that is served at Rogers St is also served at Express.

If you have a vegetable garden getting a light sprinkle this morning, know that we welcome and appreciate fresh produce here for our meal services. If you have extra produce beyond what you want or will use, please consider donating it here. We will use it!

We accept food donations from 8am-630pm, Mon-Fri and 11am-630pm on Saturday at 1515 S Rogers St.

Sunday is the deadline to register for a special event at FARMBloomington to support Community Kitchen.

We owe a big thank you to volunteers Scott & Karen Garrett for rebuilding our raised garden beds. They were in sad shape when Scott & Karen began tearing out the old wood and replacing the boards with new ones. The herbs that already came up this year were unphased by the construction and have continued to flourish. Thank you Scott & Karen for your hard work!

When you serve an average of over 900 meals/day across all programs, you need a lot of food! Here are some things on sale or on digital deal at Kroger this week (through next Tuesday) that are super helpful for our programs especially dinner meals and Backpack Buddies.

Food donations are accepted at 1515 S Rogers St from 7am-630pm, Mon-Fri and 11am-630pm on Saturdays.

Here's a special event at FARMBloomington to support Community Kitchen. Deadline for RSVP is Sunday, June 7th.

In the 28 years Community Kitchen has been providing summer meals to children, we have served 386,531 meals to children in low-income neighborhoods when they're away from schools meals for the summer!

It's summer and so we're here, providing healthy weekday lunches all summer through the last day before students go back. Lunches include proteins, grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and milk. One of our routes serves sack lunches while the other (food truck) route serves a warm lunch meal. Any child can access a meal at any of these stops, no questions asked.

Route 1 (Monday – Friday)
The Reserve at Chandler's Glenn - 10:30am – 10:50am (picnic shelter)
Arlington Valley Mobile Home Park -10:55am – 11:15am (behind the office)
Walnut Woods - 11:25am – 11:45am (across from the playground)
Henderson Court Apartments- 11:50am - 12:10pm (near the playground)
MCPL Southwest Branch- 12:20pm-12:40pm (near the amphitheater)
Southcrest Estates - 12:45pm-1:10pm (near the playground)

Route 2 (Monday – Friday)
Crestmont Community (Illinois Court) - 10:30am - 11:00am (at the playground on Illinois Court)
Highland Park Elementary - 11:15am -11:45am (in the drive near the playground)
Limestone Crossing - 12:00pm -12:30pm (at the playground)
Country View Apartments - 12:45pm - 1:15pm (at the playground)