Food Insecurity

Addressing a Local Need

How This Project Began

In 2012 Dr. Lisa Chamberlain and other local pediatricians were seeing rising rates of food insecurity among her patients and their families. Not sure how to address this issue, she and Dr. Janine Bruce reached out to the local Ravenswood City School District to see if there were consistencies in this pattern. Ms. Ruth Woods, Director of Student Services at RCSD, said that teachers, staff and administrators were absolutely seeing high rates of food insecurity among their students and their families. When we asked how we could help, Ms. Woods simply said help me feed the kids and their parents over the summer. It was from this conversation that our collaborative efforts were born.

History

Champion for Kids

Ms. Woods required that the meal program serve both children and adults, as she knew that if there were hungry children, there were also hungry adults. She also required that the meals be as healthy as possible. We collaborated with Revolution Foods to serve a variety of delicious meals throughout the summer.

Addressing a Local Need

Families were eager to participate in the program. We served over 13,000 meals in the first summer of 2012. Parents loved the salads and the kids couldn't get enough of the fresh fruit.

Power of Collaboration

Our second summer (2013) we needed a more sustainable funding model. We partnered with the YMCA of Silicon Valley and the East Palo Alto YMCA to leverage federal funding from the Summer Food Service Program for unlimited child meals. The partners from the YMCA were amazing at knowing all of the ins and outs associated with federal sponsorship.

Lunch at the Library

In 2014, the Pediatric Advocacy Program began collaborating with the San Mateo Libraries, YMCA of Silicon Valley, and Second Harvest Food Bank to support serving meals in the libraries during winter and summer breaks to both children and adults. The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital provided seed money for the first round of winter meals. Through this collaboration the libraries went on to serve hundreds of meals to children and parents during the summer and throughout the year.

Celebrating Collaborative Accomplishments

Early on we recognized the importance of celebrating individual contributions and shared accomplishments. In 2015, the San Jose Libraries hosted our annual celebration in the same room where they served hundreds of summer meals to local children and parents.

Lunch at the Library Launched Statewide

Based on models piloted by our pediatricians and community partners, California's State Library association launched a state-funded program to support child nutriton needs during the summer. The program has grown tremendously over the last couple of years and has provided numerous meals to children and families in need.

For more information about the Lunch at the Library Program click here.

Mobile Meal Program

Although community-based partnerships with schools offer great solutions to address food insecurity, consistent access through the summer for children and families remains a pervasive problem. At the same time, families enduring this diffictuly face several other barriers including transportation, communication, and fear of public charge. Collaborating with a local mobile meal program, we implemented a mixed methods study to examine and ultimately highlight the importance of innovative community-based approaches to serving marginalized families during the summer.

Intergenerational Food Access

Many community-based approaches have been implemented to address child hunger and nutrition. A child's health, however, is deeply reflective of the health of a family. Nevertheless, limited number of programs have been created to address food insecurity within the entire family. Alongside our communtiy partners, we are evaluating the importance of providing meal access across generations and its impact in both children's and community health.

Current Work

In 2023, OCHE's Dr. Bruce co-founded the Stanford Medicine Food Insecurity Coalition together with colleagues in Internal Medicine. This coalition unites institutional partners with a shared interest in addressing inpatient, outpatient, and community-level food insecurity. Partners include 20 community stakeholders and 28 Stanford stakeholders. In March 2025, Drs. Bruce and Chamberlain along with Dr. Ndidi Unaka hosted a design session to envision core strategies to address food insecurity across Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.

Addressing Caregiver Hunger in the Hospital

Food access is critical not only for the patient but also for their entire support system. Many families who come to the clinic are already facing significant burdens, and ensuring access to nutritious food helps alleviate some of these challenges. When food is scarce or inadequate, families often experience heightened stress, which can negatively impact both the patient’s recovery and overall family well-being.

To address caregiver hunger at the bedside, the OCHE in collaboration with the Ronald McDonald House Charities is piloting the provision of snack bags in the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. On 16 June 2025, the OCHE prepared snack bags together with the division of Critical Care.

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Food Insecurity

Addressing a Local Need

How This Project Began

History

Champion for Kids

Addressing a Local Need

Power of Collaboration

Lunch at the Library

Celebrating Collaborative Accomplishments

Lunch at the Library Launched Statewide

Mobile Meal Program

Intergenerational Food Access

Current Work

Addressing Caregiver Hunger in the Hospital