West End House Boys & Girls Club: Kids Café
Boston Beyond interviews Andrea Howard, Executive Director at the West End House Boys & Girls Club of Allston-Brighton to learn more about The Kids Café.
Q: What is the mission of Kids Café?
A: The mission of the Kids Café is to provide healthy, balanced meals to disadvantaged youth in an environment that is safe, accessible, and convenient. Our goals are to feed children at risk of hunger and to provide nutrition education to young people and their parents.
Q: Why did The West End House Boys & Girls Club (WEH) start Kids Café?
A: As youth members enter the West End House Boys & Girls Club, they look forward to receiving help with their homework, swimming, art, soccer. Through Kids Café they also enjoy a hot, nutritious meal. Research points to the relationship between nutrition and health and between nutrition and learning. Poor nutrition can affect youth in many ways - inability to concentrate, lethargy, and poor academic performance. The reality is that for some of our young people, the meal they receive at Kids Café is their only hot, nutritious meal of the day. It's why our work is so important.
Q: What makes The Kids Café so successful?
A: In one word - collaboration. It is the key to our success.
Q: Who do you collaborate with?
A: WEH Kids Café collaborates with a number of area non profits. Key among them is the Greater Boston Food Bank which not only delivers more than 90% of the food used by Kids Café they also provide technical assistance - working with us on every aspect of the program.
Q: Who coordinates WEH Kids Café?
A: Lisa Smith is the WEH Kids Café Coordinator. She is responsible for making sure that our daily menus reflect a variety of foods, with plenty of grains, fruits, and vegetables. We serve 175 children and teens each day. That translates to more than 30,000 healthy and balanced meals and snacks each year. It's a big job.
Q: Is it a challenge to get kids to eat healthy foods?
A: Lisa competes daily with 'less healthy' options such as the fast food restaurants in the neighborhood. Plus, it is a constant challenge to make healthy food appealing to children of all ages and backgrounds. Serving 175 meals at once also presents some difficulties. Volunteers are a key resource we count on to help in the kitchen with prepping as well as serving food.
Q: Kids Café also does nutrition education?
A: Yes, our program has grown in scope over the years to include nutrition and cooking classes offered by WEH staff and collaborative partners. Through our partnership with Share Our Strength and with help from nutritionists from the Greater Boston Food Bank, the Kids Café program offers cooking classes for 20 youth each week. The classes provide valuable information and life skills centered on nutrition and the culinary arts - plus a great meal at the end of the class. Lisa also offers job training and education to 15 teens who help teach classes and prepare and serve meals in the Kids Café program.
Q: What other benefits does WEH's Kids Café program offer?
A: One of the most valuable benefits of being a part of our program is the sense of community created by sitting down to a meal. Each evening as children eat their meals, staff model valuable social skills such as dinner conversation, manners, and more. Kids are encouraged to try new things as Lisa prepares multi-cultural dishes from Asia, Africa, Central America, and the Middle East.
Also, for many WEH parents, the Kids Café program increases the quality time they can spend with their kids after work knowing that homework is done and they have been fed a nutritious dinner.