Program Description: FORK is an informal collaboration between local groups that are committed to providing food assistance for children experiencing food insecurity for the 2022-2023 academic year between Labor Day and Memorial Day. The target audience are children who do not have an adult in the household who can provide meals.
Who’s Involved? The following groups have been represented in meetings: School District 7, Grants Pass Rotary, Gateway Rotary, reps for HVHS and GPHS Interact, Josephine County Food Bank and the Redwood Foundation for Education.
What are we purchasing initially with the 15K Rotary Grant? Food packages similar to the ones described in the attachment received positive feedback in the workgroup. Keeping pre-package foods in a drawer or cabinet at each school seemed to be a much more manageable project, and require less labor. Children with food insecurities over the weekend can self-select their own food from the drawer.
The Josephine County Food Bank has committed to partner in maximizing purchasing power for food during the year, as well as provide a space for storage and packing for distribution.
Local Rotary Clubs involved are committed to this as part of a wider service project that will include but not be limited to food drives, fund raising, sorting and transportation of food items to the schools.
The Redwood Foundation has committed to providing fiscal administration for the FORK program and has set up a separate fund for each school district where teachers, students and the public can make donations to FORK online or by mail.