Margot is working hard to finish up 100 bags of groceries to be given out at Kennett Library that each include rice, beans, oatmeal and rice pudding she helped to package.
As described in an earlier post, families of children in Kennett who count on food provided by agencies struggle over the holidays when these agencies closed over the summer or winter holidays. This includes the food cupboard of the Kennett Area Community Services (KACS) and the meals provided by the Kennett Consolidated School District (KCSD), as both take a VERY well-deserved holiday break. Working with Kennett Library and KCSD, KAN is delighted to try to help out, by assembling 100 bags be given out to interested families at Kennett Library on January 4th.
KAN raised the $2000 to buy the groceries needed... that is ALOT of groceries - about 12 truckloads as pictured here!!
Along with guidance from KACS staff, we drew on our own experience over the past 18 months helping to restocking KACS' Little Free Pantries (LFPs) in Kennett to settle on what went in the bags. We wanted to balance the need for essentials that families enjoyed while adding a little holiday cheer. Essentials included cereal, pasta, ramen, rice, beans, peanut butter, jelly, and so on - all items that we had found almost flew out of the LFPs we have been refilling at the Kennett YMCA and the Episcopal Church of the Advent in N. Union St. Some of these were items packed by Margot - 100 16 oz bags of rice and 100 16 oz bags of pinto beans. Margot's healthy instant oatmeal packs (with seeds and raisins, and instructions in English and Spanish) that we have been supplying to KACS families have become popular in the colder weather, so Margot also helped to pack 100 of these. And for holiday cheer, we included snacks for kids (granola bars, apple sauce pouches), hot chocolate mix, and popcorn. And we added a new item assembled just for this event - 100 bags of Margot's Coconut Rice Pudding, with canned coconut milk and a rice / raisin / coconut / cinnamon mix in a separate bag. If successful, we may explore assembling other similar recipes combining canned with a bag of shelf-stable items packed by Margot.
This project is another KAN experiment in helping adults with disabilities learn the skills needed to make valuable contributions to their community. In this case, our goal was to explore how to help Margot pack a grocery bag, as seen here. Once we settled on a specific set of items to include, we could then determine how to pack them in efficiently. That made it possible to design a simple packing jig that helped Margot put the items in the right place while also holding the bag open and upright. These kinds of accommodations are sometimes essential: in this case, Margot does not have the planning skills needed to decide where the items go, or the motor coordination to place them in properly or hold the bag open while placing them. But with some help from us (see above), she can begin to place the item in the right spot in the packing jig and slide it into place. As always, we integrated behaviorally-based teaching strategies (prompting, task analysis, reinforcement, visual supports, and so on) into a lesson as seen here, drawing on evidence-based practices described in detail in our book to be released this February.
Download a flyer in English and Spanish below.
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