Feeding Eudora’s number of attendees is growing since moving locations, leading to a need for more meals as grocery prices stay high.
The free program is feeding between 175 and 200 people each day it’s open, Feeding Eudora Director Laura Smith said. That’s an increase from last year’s average of 100-125 people each day.
Feeding Eudora runs from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday throughout the summer, and typically costs volunteer host organizers about $1,000 to prepare all the food needed for three days. The cost used to be closer to $700, but with higher grocery prices, it’s more expensive, Smith said.
Although more organizers are volunteering to host, many are only wanting to do a single day, rather than three, due to higher costs, Smith said.
Smith said she usually recommends people purchase enough for 200 people, but there have been two days this season they have run out of food before the event has ended. When the fire department hosted, more than 280 people attended, she said. If numbers continue to be consistently higher, they may have to ask volunteers to buy more, Smith said.
To help supplement any needs and help with higher numbers, Smith also prepared hundreds of snack packs to hand out.
After years in CPA Park, the event is now at the library, where the idea for it originated. The new location is proving to be helpful in drawing residents to the library itself, as well, Smith said.
The goal was always to increase the number of families utilizing the program, and to draw attention to the library, she said.
“This was kind of the whole idea, you know, we wanted to move it back to the library, because the need started at the library,” Smith said. “It just feels good to bring it back home, and also at the same time, not only are we feeding people, which is a community need, we’re also signing people up for library accounts. We’re getting people in there to know that the library does so much more than books.”
Library Executive Director Carol Wohlford said there has been an increase in the number of people coming into the library with their kids and those wanting to sign up for new library cards. When the event was in CPA Park, it also drew new families to the library, she said.
Destiny Lohrke has been bringing her kids to Feeding Eudora for around five years. When they moved to Eudora with their first child, her husband was transitioning career paths and they did not have the financial means to support themselves, she said. Having a program like Feeding Eudora helped them, she said.
“This place helped us survive our first year of moving out of state, my husband’s transition,” she said.
When she tells friends about the program, it always is a shock that Eudora has a free lunch program, she said.
“This is a town that’s actually giving back to the people who support this town with their taxes and their time, and then we get to integrate with each other and we get to make new friends,” she said.
It also helps give her children a place to meet other kids since they’re homeschooled, she said.
Feeding Eudora makes their family want to stay in Eudora, she said. If they do move, she would be looking for communities with a similar program, she said.
“I think that’s really important to know your community. If you know the people that you’re living with or living around, it makes you feel safe and secure,” she said.
Chelsea Pratt has been bringing her four kids to the event for several years, as well. It shows the generosity of Eudora and a willingness to step up for each other, she said.
“It’s all just people stepping up and wanting to help. And just this morning, my son said, ‘Could we take a week, mom?’” she said.
The Pratts started coming after being invited and then realized it was open to anyone in the community. She said she loves that it’s a community event in the middle of the day that gives her kids a way to see friends and talk to people.
As costs have increased, it’s also helpful financially to have three lunches covered and not to have to think about prepping them, she said.
Feeding Eudora is also looking for new organizations or groups that would like to host one or multiple days of the week. To learn more, contact Laura Smith at [email protected]. To donate to Feeding Eudora, send checks to PO Box 448, Eudora, KS 66025 or donate at this link.
