14Free Episode 7 - Windham County

Episode 7 of 14Free takes us to Windham County to the Flat Street Boys and Girls Club in Brattleboro. What was most striking about the conversation with Unit Director, Ricky Davidson, is his experience with teenagers expressing that they often turn down their schools meals due to their chronic food insecurity. Since a school meal may be the only meal they would get all day, they would rather feel the pangs of hunger they had become accustomed to than tease their stomachs with a small serving that wasn’t enough for a growing, hungry teen. Ricky and the Executive Director of the Club, Beth Baldwin-Page, both recognized the need to establish a meal program in their afterschool and summer programming and have enrolled in the federal meal reimbursement programs to make it possible. During the school year they cook meals in their kitchen and use it as an opportunity to establish relationships with the teens and teach cooking skills. During the summer months their meals are delivered from Café Services in Brattleboro allowing them to feed more kids. The supper and summer meal programs offered at the Flat St Club are essential for the kids in Brattleboro to help fill in the gaps when school meals are not available.