The St. Joseph Fairgrounds in South Bend will soon become a space for community members to come together for a breakfast and conversation about food insecurity. On Wednesday, June 11, Cultivate Food Rescue will be hosting its Meat Hunger Breakfast, an event that aims to combat food insecurity by providing breakfast meals. The meals will primarily focus on protein, which is often the least donated and most needed item.
The breakfast will start at 7:30 a.m. EDT. Visitors can come to the Esther Singer Exhibit Hall at the fairgrounds to get a better understanding of Cultivate’s Meat Hunger program. Fay Flournoy, grant and program administrator, considers this event to be an opportunity for the community to educate themselves in a way that’s fun and interactive for everybody.
“We’re going to share more about Meat Hunger and what it does for the community at the breakfast,” Flournoy said. “We’ll be having some of the kids in attendance presenting and sharing what 4-H means to them, what it means to raise their animals, and their participation in the Meat Hunger program.”
According to Flournoy, the organization uses 5,000 pounds of protein every week. Additionally, more than 63,000 people are food insecure across St. Joseph, Elkhart, and Marshall counties. The demand for protein is consistently high throughout the year.
Through the program, Cultivate Food Rescue is able to purchase livestock from 4-H youth at local county fairs. This includes fairs in both St. Joseph County and Marshall County. Once the livestock is processed, it will be turned into two-pound packages for all of the pantry partners and put into meals for the Backpack Program, which takes rescued food and turns it into nutritious frozen meals to be delivered directly to kids in need.
“During the school year, we use the Backpack Program as a way to send kids home with six meals on Friday to bridge that 68 hour gap until they return to school on Monday,” Flournoy said. “We are currently at 1,500 kids every weekend, which calls for 9,000 meals. Next school year, we’re going to be bringing on Mishawaka High School and Penn High School. It’s great for us because we love having the opportunity to expand this program.”
In total, Cultivate Food Rescue has donated more than 78,000 hours, rescuing more than 10 million pounds of food to generate over 1.7 million meals. The volunteers are very close to the protein sources as they spend time packing the meals.
For the Meat Hunger Breakfast, attendees will be served predominantly rescued food. Sponsors and other members of local communities are looking forward to donating their efforts to this event.
Flournoy is thrilled to bring this event to the public and give additional insight on food insecurity. Cultivate Food Rescue is committed to sustainability, stewardship, and feeding the hungry in the community, and the Meat Hunger Breakfast is one of the best opportunities to achieve this goal.
“It’s great for us to share the impact with people and see how kids are helping other kids who need it,” Flournoy said. “It’s just a win-win, farm-to-table experience. We’re going out there and purchasing these local animals raised by the kids. Some of these kids are in the same school corporation as one another, so they might see someone they know at a community-focused event like this.”
If you are interested in joining the breakfast to learn more about the Cultivate Meat Hunger program, ticket registration is available here. The event is free, and donations to the program are encouraged.
For more information on Cultivate Food Rescue, you can visit cultivatefoodrescue.com.