Food is a Building Block at Roll Hill Academy

Increased literacy provides the most powerful opportunity for a child to succeed in life but it’s hard to focus when you are hungry.

A child was sent to the Roll Hill principal for pocketing saltines in the cafeteria. It turned out they were for hungry siblings. Childhood Food Solutions (CFS) now provides nutritional snacks in the school office for children who need them.

A boy says he hides his CFS food in his backpack because his mother’s boyfriend would eat it. The food “keeps my belly from hurting.” Low-income students receive free breakfast and lunch at school but their families are often dependent on early-month government support and money runs out before the month ends so CFS focuses on providing food for late-month weekends and school breaks.

A Taylor Academy cafeteria worker ran out to thank us for providing Winter Break Food Sacks, saying she worries about what children eat when they do not receive free lunch at school.

“My daughter is doing much better in school. She finished her third grade reading test so early that her teacher was worried she couldn’t do it – not so – my daughter achieved proficiency!”

The chart shows the two-year improvement for Roll Hill – where CFS has provided the building block of over 25 tons of food for non-school days. The average cost per student is $70.00 per year. Nearly half our funding comes from grants, including the local Dater, Haile and Jergens Foundations. Individual donations account for about one third of funding and an increasing amount of help is coming from businesses and church congregations.

Partnerships: Although we believe the food we provide for nonschool days is vitally important, these results could not happen without excellent teachers and staff at Roll Hill and the assistance of volunteers from the Villages at Roll Hill (formerly the Fay Apartments) Community Center and the Millvale Recreation Center who distribute summer food street by street.

Future Plans: We want to see proficiency levels continue to increase at Roll Hill Academy and Ethel M. Taylor Academy (where we provide food for school breaks). In food-secure communities about 90% achieve proficiency. We want to place more food into the hands of students throughout zip code 45225, bring them closer to food security, and see how much farther they can go academically!

Childhood Food Solutions, a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit, 2573
St. Leo Place, Cincinnati, Ohio 45225
Federal Tax-Exempt ID: 26-0489068  ·  513-910-4162  ·  Website: www.kidsfed.org