Pandemic doesn’t stop Nourishing Greatness

By Editor | April 29, 2020 |

A program that provides weekend meals for students in Vandalia schools is continuing to operate while those students are at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In fact, it has expanded to include more students during the pandemic.
And, that has been possible due to donations from the community and volunteers who prepare and deliver those meal packages.
Donors of that program also stepped up to help two families who lost all of their belongings in a fire last Friday night.
Nourishing Greatness, a weekend meals program initiated in 2018 by retired teacher Debbie Hobbie, was serving about 100 students in grades 4-12 during the school year.
The program then took on younger students who had been served through a backpack program at Parkview Free Methodist Church, a program that lost its ability to gather food due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of students, in grades pre-K through 12, grew to 170 and then to its current level of 197.
Each student receives 4½ weekend meals, enough for two breakfasts and two dinners, as well as things like granola bars, cookies or microwave popcorn.
Packages for students in larger families, Hobbie said, may include something like a family-sized box of macaroni and cheese or a box of pancake mix.
“We kind of hope that that feeds somebody else or provides leftovers for the next day,” she said.
The cost of providing those meals is currently at about $1,000 a week, with each meal package costing about $5.
To fund Nourishing Greatness, an arm of the school district’s Vandalia ONE initiative, Hobbie has applied for grants from the Old Capitol Foundation.
Much of the funding, is provided by donations from individuals and businesses.
Last month, in a Facebook post, Hobbie noted that she was starting to be concerned about having enough funds for the program.
“It’s scary, in order to make sure that the program is sustainable,” she said. “So we continue to accept donations to try to keep it going.”
Since that time, donations of $25, $40, $50, $100, $200 and $250 have come in. An individual recently donated $600 to the program.
Businesses that have joined in include Ty Bates’ Shelter Insurance Agency, which provided a $1,000 grant.
There have also been sizeable donations of food, with large amounts received when Peoples State Bank held Nourishing Greatness collection nights at varsity football games the past two years.
Hobbie even noted on a Facebook page that when she was unable to buy enough food items recently due to restrictions on purchases, two individuals stepped forward to buy some of those items for the program.
“People have really been so generous,” Hobbie said.
“Every time I start to panic, God does something,” Hobbie said.
When school is in session food for Nourishing Greatness is taken to Jefferson Primary School, where the individual meals are packaged.
“I can’t say enough about the students at (New Approach) Alternative School,” Hobbie said. “They haul the food to the school and then bag the meals.”
Now that school is not in session, Hobbie has had to call on volunteers, doing so through Facebook posts.
She is limited to having 10 volunteers at a time, “and every time I ask, I have more than I need.
“It’s just amazing to me,” Hobbie said.
In addition to those preparing the meal bags, there are volunteers who haul the bags to the junior high for distribution or deliver them.
She sees how much the food packages mean to students and their families, and tells the story of one father who, while expressing his appreciation, asked that it go to another family that would need it more.
The outreach of the program even extended beyond the food packages last Friday night, when two families who are Nourishing Greatness recipients lost all of their belongings in a fire.
Hobbie put out a call for assistance, and the community responded quickly to that call.
As examples, she said, Lorin Kirk provided a tub full of clothing for younger children, and Keri Buscher purchased food for the families.
And, she said, Aaron Alderson, the father of three girls, donated a new backpack and a number of other items.
“His girls even put in stuffed animals,” Hobbie said. “That was so touching.”
One thing that Hobbie doesn’t really like about the program is that her name is always out in the forefront.
“There are just so many people who have been so wonderful, so generous with their time and money.
“There are so many people who are doing so much,” Hobbie said.

Four volunteers load Nourishing Greatness bags last month, prior to more restrictive pandemic guidelines. From left are Nancy Meyers, Brooke Benhoff, Ali Willenborg and Rachel Zimmerman.