Kids can get free lunches through the school district in Gold Beach, Oregon, even during the summer. But workers at the Curry Public Library noticed that some kids were missing out and decided to step in. The library launched a separate summertime free sack lunch program for children and will offer more lunches before the school year starts. We learn more about the service and why it’s needed from Bronwyn Greathead, a library employee and program coordinator for After School Commitment to Education and Development, or ASCEND, a collaboration between the library and Central Curry School District 1.
Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Kids who get free and reduced lunches during the school year often face challenges when school is out for summer. In Portland, the Bureau of Parks and Recreation steps up to fill the gap. In Curry County, it’s the library.
Bronwyn Greathead works at the Curry Public Library and is a program coordinator for ASCEND, which is a collaboration between the library and the Central Curry School District. She joins us now to talk about the work they are doing. Bronwyn, welcome to the show.
Bronwyn Greathead: Hi. Thank you for having me.
Miller: Thanks for joining us. I want to start with this year-long program that you are the coordinator for. What is ASCEND?
Greathead: So ASCEND stands for the After School Commitment to Education and Development. It’s a program for middle school students – 6th, 7th and 8th grade kids – run by our Curry Public Library. And we’re lucky enough to have a relationship with our school district where they let us be in the schools. Both schools are elementary schools – K-6 – and our junior-senior high school. We’re typically there from about 11:30 at the high school, so we can be there for the lunch period. So kids can come in and be there for their lunch break. Oftentimes, it gives them a space that they’re a little more comfortable in. And then we’re there through the afternoon, helping kids with school work if they need it. Then until five o’clock so kids can stay after school and get academic help and also have a space to be.
Miller: How did this partnership come to be?
Greathead: Well, that was before my time. But some incredibly intelligent people here at the library, and with the school district, saw a need for more supports for those kids, because that’s the age group where we lose a lot of kids who are struggling academically or they just can’t make that transition into high school. So the idea was, if we can offer them more support, maybe we can help them get through 12th grade. That’s a big deal for our students.
Through a 21st Century Grant and the collaboration with the Central Curry School District, they started this program. It was funded through the grant for five years. We did not renew the grant this year. So now, it’s really just running on the incredible willpower of the other people in the ASCEND team and the amazing library we have here in Gold Beach.
Miller: How much of what you’re doing there is about the relationships between the library employees and these kids, these young people?
Greathead: That’s an excellent question because I think pretty much everything we do is based off the relationships that we have, the positive relationships that we have, not just with kids, but also with the school district. We have kids who will show up for us that I think won’t show up for a lot of other events or spaces. Some of that is because we have an amazing staff. One of the people that I work with is a retired teacher. He’s been in the school district for years, and I absolutely believe he’s one of the favorite human beings of all of the kids at the school. They will do things for him that they wouldn’t do for anyone else. Those relationships mean we have kids who will come to us that won’t necessarily show up for other things.
Miller: And is there reason to believe that in doing that, they’re also showing up at school or continuing on into high school?
Greathead: I’d like to think so. I know we do help keep a lot of kids in sports. The school has sports policies. If you’re getting lower than a C in any of your classes, you need to bring that up in order to participate. So we have a lot of kids who are in sports who will come to us that need that academic help and we hopefully, ideally help them get their grades up so they can compete.
Miller: So this is something that happens during the school year, really an extended after-school program. Why did the library start to offer free sack lunches for part of the summer?
Greathead: So that started last year. Again, I have to give so much credit to the people that I work with because it’s not necessarily a normal thing for the library to do, but our school district does provide lunches. We have amazing cafeteria staff that come in on their summer break and they serve lunches there at our elementary school – kids eat on site.
But we saw last year that there was a period of time, about three weeks, where they weren’t gonna be able to offer that. And we know, as you said at the beginning of the show, school meals are sometimes the most reliable source of food that some of these kids have. So as a group, we kind of wondered, is there something we can do about that? Amazingly, the library board absolutely was in support. So we were like, OK, let’s see what we can do.
So starting last summer – it was about a three week period – we served, I think, just over 250 lunches. For a school district that has less than 500 kids, that’s a really big deal. It also brings kids into the library, which I think is amazing. It lets them become familiar with the space and the people that work here, connect to our community a little bit more.
Miller: Oh, and I hadn’t even thought of that though, that peanut butter and jelly sandwich or some kind of free lunch as a way to get kids who might not otherwise go to your building, to get in there. And then once they’re there, they can use a computer or check out some books?
Greathead: Absolutely. They realize there’s a lot more here than just books. And it’s a space that they can use and it’s a space that they are welcome. So, yeah, that for me is a huge bonus.
Miller: How does this meal program fit into what you see as a library’s role in a community?
Greathead: I wish everyone had the opportunity to visit our library, or that libraries and other communities operate the same way ours does. I hope that they do. We have spaces that are really built around the needs of the community, and try to be a source of shared space to bring people in and to get people connecting. So for me, it felt really organic. I have a history with kids, so I know in our community what that food insecurity looks like and how necessary it is. But I also know that if you have food, kids will come. So any way to bring them in here, and to have them share in this space with us, and take some ownership of something as amazing as a public library, it really works for me.
Miller: What kinds of disparities do you see in Curry County between the haves and the have nots?
Greathead: Well, it’s a beautiful town. It’s like a lot of places on the coast. It’s very much a vacation town. I think we see that a lot in the summer, but I will say one of the benefits here is that a lot of the people that we have that maybe have more, are really willing to volunteer their time, and to donate money. Our program right now, the lunch program, it’s not funded with any taxpayer dollars. It’s actually all through private donations or through small grants, our local businesses. So there is, in our community, a real sense of trying to give back and to make sure that our kids here get what they need because we don’t want any child to be hungry.
Miller: I mean, given that it is a relatively small community, do you basically know all the young people that you’re helping?
Greathead: I do. I know the middle schoolers a lot more than I know the younger kids right now, but yeah, I’m familiar with most of the kids that come in. Occasionally, there are kids that I don’t know and those could be kids passing through town or kids here just visiting because any child is welcome to come in and get a lunch. We’re not asking any questions. They’re more than welcome to have food if they’d like food.
Miller: What kinds of barriers do you know or assume that these kids are dealing with when it comes to accessing regular meals?
Greathead: So, that’s a good question and it speaks a little bit to the things that we’ve tried in the past. Since we started this program, we also try and do food boxes for spring break, Thanksgiving, in order for kids to make sure that when they’re home they are eating. But one thing that we’ve run into is that, assuming kids are going to be able to prepare a meal at home … not only just because they may be too young, but also they may not have access to running water. They may not have access to a stove or a microwave. There’s a much more assured chance that they will be eating that food, getting that food, if we can hand them something ready to go, rather than something they have to prepare themselves.
Miller: As you noted, this is all provided by donations, either individuals or grants. What kind of support from the county, or the state perhaps, would be most helpful for you as you’re providing, as you’re branching out more and more into what traditionally has been social services?
Greathead: I think my hope in that sense is to find ways to continue working in collaboration with the schools because I know they want to meet these same goals. And if there’s a way to create partnerships where then we can get money and that money can be spread out in a way that no one has to do everything … because I don’t think anyone can do everything. But for us to be able to support each other in those partnerships, making that easier, I think that would be helpful.
Miller: Bronwyn, thanks very much.
Greathead: Yeah, thank you for having me.
Miller: Bronwyn Greathead is the program coordinator for ASCEND. She works with Curry Public Library and she collaborates with the Central Curry School District.
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