Fourteen-year-old Phil Heidger III attends the Coralville Community Food Pantry’s free summer lunch program at least twice a week.
Whether it’s with his siblings, his mother, or his grandpa, Phil Heidger Sr., you can find the Coralville teen there on Wednesdays and Fridays over the program’s 12-week run. Phil III said the food is good, and he enjoys the ancillary programming hosted by the pantry’s various community partners.
“Sometimes they have reptiles, and stuff that I like to hang around with,” Phil said.
Stories like that are music to the ears of Shanaè Amadoska, the pantry’s family services coordinator and the organizing force behind its four-year-old free summer lunch program.
The Coralville Community Food Pantry started the program in 2022 as part of a collaboration with the Iowa City Community School District, which supports numerous free summer meal sites and programs within the district’s boundaries.
Typically, a meal site that partners with the school district receives food directly from the district. As part of that agreement, meal sites abide by certain guidelines, including limiting food only to children under 18 years of age—meaning parents or guardians would not be allowed to eat with their children—or in some instances, providing only to-go meals or requiring meals to be eaten onsite.
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“That’s the traditional format we followed last year,” said Amadoska, who is in her second year leading the program. “We are able to offer additional meals, but the meals we offered in addition were meals we would kind of do out of pocket.”
The guidelines the school district gives to meal sites don’t come directly from the district; rather, they are stipulations of the state and federal funding that pays for the program. Amadoska said they worked around this last year by making frozen pizzas, sandwiches, or other quick foods for the parents and guardians while their children ate the provided food.
To circumvent this and to ensure everyone could eat together, this year’s summer lunch program was funded entirely by private donations.
“This means that we’re able to serve all of our meals onsite—or they can take them to go, it really is fine with us. There’s really a lot of freedom that we are able to have,” Amadoska said. “Essentially, kids and their family members can enjoy the meal all together.”
Community partners that helped sponsor this change did so by donating money, providing meals, or other offerings. Donors include Big Grove Brewery, Chick-fil-A, Hy-Vee, Olive Garden, Saj Grill, Shakespeare’s Pub and Grill, and United Iowa Financial.
“If you’re a local business or even if you’re a more corporate business in the area, you have the opportunity to make a really positive impact on the community,” Amadoska said. “In a lot of ways, it’s beneficial for them because they’ve been able to offer different kinds of exposure to the people we’re seeing.”
The new format has been a hit with guests and volunteers alike.
“The food is wonderful [and] once again, it has the involvement of local businesses,” said longtime volunteer Colette Brodersen.
Brodersen, a 72-year-old Coralville resident, has volunteered at the pantry in various roles over 12 years. However, the summer lunch program seems to be her favorite way to give back, as she enjoys seeing people enjoy their meals together.
“Food connects people,” she said. “Eating together connects people, and we all feel that in our personal lives. When we have friends over, that connects us. When we sit with family, that connects us.
“[At the pantry], you’re connecting in a very different way because you’re actually preparing it, serving it, eating—because sometimes volunteers will sit and eat—so you’re connecting in a way that I think all cultures throughout the world connect: through food.”
If you wish to donate to the Coralville Community Food Pantry or its summer lunch program, you may do so here.
If you’re looking for a free summer lunch program affiliate, here’s a resource to find one near you.
