Category: Making a Difference

THANK YOU!!!
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When we started Kids Cafe we just wanted to provide 19 healthy meals and some fun activities to local kids that could use them. As we go into our 4th summer of Kids Cafe we are absolutely blown away by the positive response and generosity of our community. Thank you for believing in us, the children we serve and our mission.  What we have been able to accomplish together is nothing short of amazing, and we are so grateful for your support.

Altoona Kids Cafe, and the other programs of what is now SWERVE OUTREACH, is truly a collaboration of the best of us. It’s bigger than all of us. It’s not one person, or one business or one church–it’s not even one city. It’s an entire community of people, churches, businesses, schools, community organizations, and cities recognizing a need and then filling it–caring about each other, and then taking action to help.

We encourage you to take a look at our donor page. We greatly appreciate all of the amazing people who care about the children in our community and have donated to our program. There would be no Kids Cafe without them. In the last six months we have received over $35,000 in donations, grants, and prizes and we want to publicly recognize the people, business and organizations and thank them for their large contribuitions.

THANK YOU PRAIRIE MEADOWS!!!

Prairie Meadows has awarded SWERVE OUTREACH a $10,000 Prairie Meadows Community Betterment Grant for the transportation of our students to and from Altoona Kids Cafe for the 2017 Summer. We partner with Southeast Polk Comunity schools to bus over 100 students into our program from Altoona, Pleasant Hill, East Des Moines and new to this summer, Mitchellville. As our program grows, so does the cost of providing safe, quality transportation for our students. Thank you Prairie Meadows!

THANK YOU LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE CROSS!!!

We would not be able to have Altoona Kids Cafe if it wasn’t for the Lutheran Church of the Cross. They have found many ways to support us over the last 4 years and as we continue to grow so does our relationship with LCC. They provide us a safe space, free of charge, to have Kids Cafe every summer, and an office for our volunteers to work out of. They donate their time in volunteering with us, they also donate backpack buddy meals, books, Crockpot Cooking Class supplies, school supplies, and much, much more. They also support us with monetary gifts. We recently received a check for $5,000 from their missional fund. This will provide over 1,4000 meals to students this summer. Thank you LCC!!!

THANK YOU ALTOONA FARRELL’S EXTREME BODYSHAPING!!!

If you’ve only just heard about Kids Cafe in the last couple months, it’s probably thanks to Altoona Farrell’s Extreme Bodyshaping, their awesome owners, Jeff and Nicole Essink, their amazing members, and the generosity of the company founder, Lance Farrell. On April 6, 2017, after a hard-fought March Madness-style Facebook voting battle, Farrell’s Extreme Bodyshaping presented Altoona Kids Cafe with a check for $5,000 as the winners of their Farrell’s Charity Bracket Challenge. The word around town in the month of March was “Vote for Kids Cafe” and you couldn’t get on Facebook without getting tagged and asked to vote and share if you live in Eastern Polk County–not to mention all of the press–a big THANK YOU to Megan Reuther, Randy Schumacher and Channel 13 News, as well a Jonathan Krueger and the Altoona Herald Index/Des Moines Register for sharing our story with the metro and helping us get the word out. We are so grateful for the shared passion that Jeff and Nicole Essink have for our mission and also for their partnership. They will also be donating their time and talent to us this summer by teaching some classes to our students at Kids Cafe. Thank you Jeff and Nicole!

Here’s the article from the Des Moines Register!

Here’s the WHO-TV News story!

THANK YOU SOUTHEAST POLK EDUCATION FOUNDATION!!!

Halfway through our first summer of Altoona Kids Cafe, it dawned on us that some of our students needed more support than the summer meals and activities we were providing. We knew that back-to-school time was just around the corner, and as mom’s ourselves we were very aware of the cost that comes with the purchasing of backpacks, school supplies and all of the needed items for students. We also knew that when kids show up for school without supplies, many times it’s the teachers that step up and buy supplies for their students. We don’t believe that teachers should have to fund their classrooms. We knew we could help.

So not only are we going into our 4th summer of Kids Cafe, but shortly following we will be going into our 4th fall of providing backpacks and school supplies to students in our community who need assistance. This is where the Southeast Polk Education Foundation comes in–they have generously awarded SWERVE OUTREACH (that’s us) $5,000  for the purchase of backpacks and school supplies for our “Tools for School” program. Thank you Southeast Polk Education Foundation!

THANK YOU KARL CHEVROLET!!!

One of our favorite things is when people hear about what we are doing at Kids Cafe, and they learn about some facet of our program that resonates with them and they say, “I want to help with that!” We LOVE when passion meets passion and good things happen. That’s how our partnership with Karl Chevrolet came about. We are so excited to announce that Karl Chevrolet will not only be funding the purchase of ingrediants for our Crockpot Cooking Class for our High School Class, they will also be sending people from their Commercial Sales Department to VOLUNTEER on Friday’s to help our high-schoolers learn the life-skill of crockpot cooking. Thank you Karl Chevrolet!

AND THANK YOU SHARON TOWNSEND!!!

Sharon has supported Altoona Kids Cafe and SWERVE OUTREACH since the very beginning. She’s been a quiet champion of the youth in our community for a long time supporting programs that improve their health and provide them with educational opportunities. She supported the original Kids Cafe and Central Place–and when that went away, she continued to find ways to give, including Altoona Kids Cafe. Sharon donates her time and talent by volunteering with us every summer, throughout the summer and is best known for her warm smile and greeting students when they walk in the door and at meal times. She is also an annual donor, and this spring she donated $10,000 to SWERVE OUTREACH. THANK YOU SHARON!!! We look forward to working with you again this summer!

Would you like to be a part of serving the children in our community through SWERVE OUTREACH? We’d love for you to join us. Find out more by visiting our Volunteer or Partner with Us page.

THANK YOU!!!

May 22, 2017 Read More
Back to School with Altoona Kids Cafe
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Backpack stuffing crew 2016

Altoona Kids Cafe believes that every student should have the tools they need to be successful in school. We understand that sometimes families need a little assistance in providing backpacks and all of the school supplies a student needs at the beginning of the school year. For the third year in a row, with the help of community donations and volunteers, we have assisted over 300 students in the Southeast Polk Community School District with back-to-school essentials.

Thank you to everyone who donated supplies and backpacks! Thank you to all of our volunteers who collected, stuffed and delivered backpacks and supplies. Thank you to our community partners, Lutheran Church of the Cross, The Altoona Campus, and Altoona City Hall for allowing us to place collection bins for donations. Thank you to Southeast Polk Principals, Guidance Counselors, and Administrative Assistants for collaborating with us to assist students, and thank you to the Southeast Polk Nurses for inviting us to be a part of your Health Fair for the second year in a row. Great things happen when we work together!

If you would like to find out more about how you can help students in our community through Altoona Kids Cafe, please email us at altoonakidscafe@gmail.com. Thank you!

backpack stuffingLCC backpack donationsworking off the supply listbackpack stuffing 2kerrin at health fairbackpacks to go 2

August 29, 2016 Read More
Volunteer Today!!!
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Would you like to lend a hand at Altoona Kids Cafe this Summer?

AKC Bartels' Serve MilkSign-up today!

It takes about 40 Volunteers a day to operate Altoona Kids Cafe, and we would love for you to join our team! We have volunteer opportunities available in the following areas: Kitchen Server, Teen Kitchen Server, Classroom Leader, Classroom Assistant Leader, Classroom Assistant, Activity Team, Greeter and many more. You can sign up to volunteer for one day over your lunch hour, or for the entire program–we make it easy and fun!

Altoona Kids Cafe will be held June 12th–July 21st, Monday through Friday from 10:30am–12:30pm. We will not be open on July 3rd AND July 4th.

ALL Volunteers will be asked to complete a background check and volunteer application before volunteering as well as attend a training meeting*. Volunteer Meetings that include training will be held on Wednesday, May 31st from 6:30pm-8:00pm and Sunday, June 4th from 5:00pm-6:30pm. Both meetings will be held at Cross Creek (the building west of Lutheran Church of the Cross) 1975 8th Street SW, Altoona. We asked that volunteers attend ONE of these meetings. If you are unable to attend, you will be asked to complete training onsite at Kids Cafe before volunteering. If you have questions or need more information, please contact us at altoonakidscafe@gmail.com.

If you are ready to sign up, follow this link: SIGN UP HERE!

Thank you, we hope to see you this summer!

*Volunteers from last Summer will complete a background check and update their application already on file. Volunteers 18 and Under do not require a background check. The policy of Altoona Kids Cafe is to not have students serving other students of the same age. If your student is ages 12-14 they will be assigned to a volunteer position in our Preschool/Kindergarten Classroom.

May 19, 2016 Read More
What is Altoona Kids Cafe?
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What is Altoona Kids Cafe? Altoona Kids Cafe is more than just a meal. Each day we offer a variety of fun learning opportunities, enrichment, and a healthy lunch. Our goal is to feed the mind, body and spirit of those who need it the most. We understand the importance of relationships and the power of personal connections. Kids Cafe is a program run by Swerve Outreach. Our mission is to inspire and guide young people to reach their full potential. With a focus on healthy living, academic achievement, and life skills, we are feeding the future. We know that by teaching important values such as respect, integrity, compassion, and grace, that we are impacting young lives and strengthening our community. We operate year around. In collaboration with our community, we are helping to provide children with their basic needs, so that they might have a brighter future.

Kids Cafe 2015 Strong boys with books

Altoona Kids Cafe is an official Summer Food Service Program sponsored by the USDA, that provides lunches to children during summer break. We are a group of volunteers who recognize the effects of food insecurity and hunger within our community and are working to change things for the better. Altoona Kids Cafe has partners with Caring Hands Outreach, Southeast Polk Schools, Lutheran Church of the Cross, local churches, business and Awesome Community Volunteers to organize a summer lunch program for children in the Greater Altoona area. In 2015, Kids Cafe served 4, 230 meals. Those meals were provided to all children 18 and under, who attended the program, at no cost to them.

Kids Cafe 2015 Girl with Spaghetti

Presently, we are the only SFSP within our community that provide lunches for children over summer break. We feel very strongly as mothers and community members, that food insecurity affects us all. In a town as fortunate and blessed as Altoona, no child should go hungry. 

Altoona Kids Cafe is more than just a meal. We operate year round, partnering with SE Polk Schools, local businesses and volunteers, to provide students in need of assistance with backpacks and school supplies, coats, boots and other essentials. In 2015, we supplied over 300 students with their back to school essentials. During the winter months of 2015, we collaborated with Altoona Elementary PTA to help to provide coats, boots, and other needed winter items for almost 400 SE Polk students.  Kids Cafe is helping to provide children with their basic needs, so that they might have a brighter future—they are impacting young lives and strengthening our community.

Last Day Group Pic

We are hopeful that you will share in our vision. We are asking residents, leaders, and businesses of Altoona to share in our passion and partner with us to help display the power of community to the young people who need us the most.  We believe that together, we can make a difference.

Will you help us feed kids?

Kids Cafe 2015 Preston lunch

March 30, 2014 Read More