By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Women Who Lead nonprofit has assembled a group of women attacking hunger in Ellis County on multiple fronts.
They call their committee the Women Who Feed.
The effort resulted from a meeting of community resource leaders led by the Heartland Community Foundation about food insecurity in Ellis County.
Women Who Feed cochairwoman Mary Ann Shorman said the group learned from that meeting Early Childhood Connections was no longer receiving food backpacks for its children.
When Early Childhood Connections was part of a K-12 school, their students qualified for a food program through the Kansas Food Bank. However, that ended when it moved to the program's new location on 13th Street.
Shorman said Early Childhood Connections initially identified 15 children who would benefit from having backpacks filled with simple meals and snacks to take home over the weekend.
This included mac and cheese, applesauce, Vienna sausages or granola bars.
Women Who Lead funded the food program for the spring 2024 semester and all of the 2024-25 school year.
Westside students pack all the meals.
"We are just thrilled to have it back," said Donna Hudson-Hamilton, Early Childhood Connections director. "It's operating so smoothly with the help of the Westside students, and we're just glad we can provide that for those children who are food insecure over the weekend."
Shorman said she thought about her grandchildren when she learned about the food needs in Hays.
"When I think about a kid being hungry, it really kind of breaks my heart," she said. "I think about my grandkids and they can go to my snack drawer anytime and eat something.
"I think about kids from families who don't have that luxury. It makes me feel good to be able to know that we're helping. We're not solving it. It's not going to go away. We're helping alleviate some of that stress."
Feeding Hays
The Women Who Lead has also partnered with Feeding Hays through St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 2900 Canal Blvd.
The program offers free dinners from 6:30 to 7 p.m. every Thursday through a drive-through service based at the church. There are no income requirements for the meals. You can pre-order meals at 785-259-1964, but pre-orders aren't necessary.
Volunteers prepare and serve the meals, and much of the food is donated. Those who wish can donate cash to the project when they pick up meals. Those funds go toward paying off student lunch debt at Hays USD 489.
Most of the meals are spaghetti dinners with a vegetable and cookies. However, it varies on occasion.
Women Who Lead has already provided one meal in cooperation with Feeding Hays. The charity paid for all the ingredients for a loaded baked potato meal, and volunteers prepared, served and worked cleanup that Thursday night.
The group served 200 meals that night. They cooked 57 pounds of hamburger the night they sponsored the meal.
The Options domestic violence shelter, residents from the Schwaller Center and firefighters picks up meals on Thursday nights from Feeding Hays.
Any leftover meals go to First Call for Help, another Hays nonprofit, to be picked up on a first-come-first-serve basis.
"I'm just amazed. It's for everybody. I really feel that way," Joslyn Brungardt, Women Who Feed cochairperson, said. "We feed all kinds. We feed the elderly. We feed families that are in need. We feed mothers that are behind and are trying to get to ball games and get their kids. We feed dads that had the kids that week."
She said she was handing out meals one night, and an older gentleman just wanted someone to talk to. He said he hadn't seen anyone in three months.
"I grabbed his hand and said, 'Would you like a couple of extra meals to put in your fridge so you have something to warm up?' He said, "I haven't heard from my kids or anything in three months, and I was just kind of lonely.' He grabbed my hand and just wanted to know that someone saw him and cared about him."
Some busy moms are trying to pick up kids from sports and activities and they just need help with dinner one night a week, she said.
"You know what is amazing. Those people who probably have nothing, give Ben (Houchen) a $5 bill or a $2 bill," Brungardt said.
"There are people who take advantage of the system, but there are a lot of people who don't, and they just need a little bit of help," she said.
The Women Who Feed committee plans to support a Feeding Hays meal once a quarter. This fall they are planning sloppy joes. Chicken and noodles is planned for this winter, Brungardt said.
Brungardt said being involved in Women Who Feed and Feeding Hays was a way to become more involved in the community.
"Food insecurity is a problem," she said. "But it's just being kind to someone who needs a helping hand."
Meal kits
The committee has also created meal kits that are being distributed through First Call for Help.
"The cost of groceries has gone up so much," Macey Pfeifer, First Call for Help executive director, said. "That's hitting everyone, not just low-income families."
Pfeifer, a Women Who Lead member, said First Call for Help is looking for ways to keep its pantries stocked.
The kit includes everything needed to cook a hot meal, including a disposable baking pan and the recipe.
Some meals include spaghetti, pizza, chicken enchiladas, tuna and noodles, taco soup, chicken alfredo, and ham and beans.
The committee plans to donate 20 meal kits per month.
"The meal kits will be really nice because with the food boxes, we give out food, but there are not a lot of nice meals you can make out of that. Here's a box of macaroni. If you want, you can mix some tuna in that. It's random and sporadic. We don't always have everything."
In addition, the committee has donated birthday boxes for both boys and girls.
These kits include everything needed to bake a birthday cake, a happy birthday banner, candles, balloons, a birthday card and a small toy.
These kits were inspired by a mother who had forgotten her child's birthday and didn't have the resources to buy or make a cake.
Battle of the Businesses
First Call for Help maintains a year-round food pantry at 607 E. 13th Street and sponsors an annual Battle of the Businesses community food drive.
First Call for Help does not require food recipients to provide proof of income for food. However, they do need to show a valid government-issued ID or driver's license.
The amount of food in a food box is based on the number of people in a household.
People can come in for food, hygiene items and diapers once a month.
This summer, Women Who Lead members surpassed the number of food items that were collectively donated through all of the businesses last year with 2,481 items.
"We were getting by, but I think with their contributions to us have really helped out. It'll really make a difference in people's lives that need it," Pfeifer said.
Since the inception of the Women Who Lead, formerly the Wonder Women League, the group has donated numerous times to the school food pantries.
The group also participated in the Delta Zeta food drive for the Fort Hays State University food pantry in August. It is collecting food items for the Ellis food pantry in October.
Expanding Meals on Wheels
Women Who Lead also paid for an additional warming bag for the First Call for Help Meals on Wheels program.
This allowed the program to add a route to serve 16 more people.
Women Who Lead has also provided volunteers every quarter to deliver food for a week.
Pfeifer said First Call for Help is always looking for volunteers to deliver Meals on Wheels. You can call 785-623-2800 for more information. Individuals or groups can sign up. Hours of delivery are 10:30 a.m. to noon. Pfeifer said she likes people to sign up for a week at a time or for a group to share a week of shifts.
"We don't see this as just one big project," Shorman said. "Food insecurity is not just going to go away. Honestly, there is more food insecurity than I was ever aware of."
Brungradt wanted to ensure she acknowledged all the Women Who Lead members who make the projects the committee sponsors successful.
Today, there are more than 160 women in Women Who Lead. You can learn more about the nonprofit on its website or follow the group on Facebook.
Editor's note: Cristina Janney is a member of Women Who Lead.