To the Hands That Packed the Lunches ~Thank You

A summer thank~you to Decorah’s Kids Lunch Club volunteers and supporters

Summer has a way of looking carefree from the outside.

Long days.

Swimming pools.

Bikes leaning in the grass.

Kids running from one adventure to the next.

But for some families, summer can also bring a very practical worry:

What happens to the meals children normally receive at school?

In Decorah, the answer this summer came from a whole lot of caring hands.

Through Kids Lunch Club, volunteers, faith communities, schools, local organizations, businesses and community supporters worked together to help provide free summer lunches for children and youth while school was out.

And now that backpacks are coming back out and school doors are opening again, it feels like the right time to say something simple.

Thank you.

Thank you to the people who made sandwiches.

Thank you to the ones who washed and cut fruit and vegetables.

Thank you to the people who packed bags, carried boxes, donated food, gave money, organized schedules and showed up when there was work to do.

Thank you to the people who helped distribute the meals.

And thank you to everyone who helped make sure a child could simply come and eat without having to explain why they needed lunch.

That matters.

Because hunger does not always look the way we imagine it does.

Sometimes it is quiet.

Sometimes it is a parent stretching groceries until the next paycheck.

Sometimes it is a child who knows that during the school year breakfast and lunch are there, and during summer, the routine suddenly changes.

That is where community steps in.

Not always with something dramatic.

Sometimes with bread.

An apple.

A bag of vegetables.

A packed lunch sitting on a table waiting for a child who needs it.

There is something beautiful about people helping children they may never personally know.

They may never hear a thank~you from the family receiving the meal.

They may never know which child ate the sandwich they made.

But they showed up anyway.

And perhaps that is one of the purest forms of service.

Doing something good without needing to know who will benefit from it.

This summer, Kids Lunch Club became more than lunches.

It became a reminder.

A reminder that communities are strongest when people notice the spaces where somebody might fall through, and quietly stand there to catch them.

So as another school year begins, there may be empty lunch-packing tables where volunteers stood just days ago.

The bags have been handed out.

The sandwiches have been eaten.

The summer program has come to an end.

But the kindness behind it does not disappear.

It remains in every family that had one less thing to worry about.

In every child who had lunch waiting.

And in every volunteer who decided that somebody else’s child mattered, too.

To everyone who helped make Decorah’s Kids Lunch Club possible this summer:

Thank you for showing up.

Thank you for filling the bags.

And most of all,

thank you for helping fill a need.

Deliverance Hope