Quality Care for Children takes over YMCA meal program

The Rome-Floyd YMCA’s year round meal program for children and adults will now be sponsored by Quality Care for Children, an Atlanta based non-profit dedicated to providing healthy meals for those who are food insecure.

Through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food program, QCC will help provide food for kids that rely on the local YMCA for after school snacks and dinners.

Reynaldo Green, QCC’s vice president of nutrition and family well- being, said the QCC acts as an administrative sponsor to the YMCA. They’re the middleman between the site and the state to ensure that the program is getting the assistance they need.

“A lot of programs will typically go to places to shop for cookies and chips, but the USDA program doesn’t allow that,” he said.

Following USDA guidelines, the YMCA and other childcare programs sponsored by QCC and the CACF program can work on providing meals with less sugar, more whole grains and all around better nutrition.

“This will extend the work of the meals they receive from their schools,” Green said.

While the kids might get breakfast and lunch at school, the program covers the meals for the end of the day, such as dinner and an afternoon snack. QCC reimburses the YMCA for each meal and snack they provide for the kids they sponsor. Currently, the YMCA provides meals for 45 to 50 kids in the surrounding area.

“The other benefit is that the Y does not have to directly foot the bill of the entire costs to provide these meals to children and they can use the costs to go to other things they might need,” he said. “Particularly in this environment, where funding might be scarce, this can help pay for staff and go towards any online endeavors they’re trying to do with their children.”

Because of the pandemic however, the after school programs can’t directly feed the kids on site, they are doing grab-andgo style meals.

The YMCA also sends activities for the children to do while at home, such as worksheets and coloring pages.

“Instead of having children in a congregate setting, they can get meals picked up by their parents and then they’re able to eat safely at home,” Green said.