Darlene Martin, MS, RD, Asst. Director Long Beach Unified School District Nutrition Services Branch CITIES, SCHOOLS & COMMUNITY PARTNERS: WORKING TOGETHER FOR HEALTHY SUMMERS

NUTRITION SERVICES, LBUSD LBUSD has partnered with the City of Long Beach for over 30 years to provide meals for children during the summer months via the Summer Food Program. Years ago, breakfasts, lunches and snacks were served at the Long Beach City designated sites. As budget conditions challenged resources, meals were limited to lunch service.

SUCCESS The City of Long Beach served 127,349 meals to children during the months of June, July and August at their locations last summer (2012). Continued success is dependent on clear, honest communication with a strong desire to feed the children of Long Beach and surrounding areas. Our summer food team consists of Tamalyn Sayre, who oversees the City Parks Summer program and a strong team of players within our Nutrition Services Branch.

PLANNING Meet in late January or early February each year to go over previous year’s program, current year budget, etc. o Plan for City Council and School District Board approval of contracts o Review menus and discuss improvements, changes that may be needed o Any changes in procedures o Review summer school locations and potential impact on the nearby parks programs

FLEXIBILITY Flexibility and the willingness to make changes to improve the program: o Hot meals were added to all days of the week 4 years ago. Meal satisfaction greatly improved over the cold lunches that had previously been served 3 days a week. Now cold meals are provided when ordered for field trips. o Last year a cold deli sandwich was added to the menu once a month for variety and it was a big hit.

FLEXIBILITY (Continued) o When a closed-SSFO site is located near a park’s program, we encourage the program director to take the children to the park for a hot meal. It’s a win-win for all parties. We communicate with Tamalyn and give her a heads-up that more meals may be needed and hold the site staff responsible for making the connection. o Production Center staff members go to great lengths to get additional meals out to park sites when a late call comes in. The goal is to feed the kids and we work on improving the process later, if needed, to minimize the number of late calls and special deliveries.

PUBLICITY We post the parks’ locations, schedules and menus on the LBUSD Nutrition Services’ web site. Parents can find both the school district and the parks information in one place to find what best meets their needs. District staff translates the parks menus into Spanish for the City to distribute.

Working together with the City of Long Beach to feed more children in 2013! Nutrition Services Branch, LBUSD