Solving Childhood Hunger Starts in the School Cafeteria.

By meeting children in schools, we can ensure access to high-quality meals every school day.

By Investing In:

  • Restoring working kitchens in schools

  • Hiring and training culinary staff

  • Providing 270,000 meals to 750 students per school year

We Can Work To Solve Childhood Hunger in Our Community, Together!

school meals are hunger-relief

WHO WE ARE

The Patachou Foundation is an anti-hunger organization focused on childhood hunger in Indianapolis. We believe in going beyond serving gap-filling meals by addressing the root causes of hunger, like poverty and access. Through our decade of experience working with schools, we've learned that meeting kids where they are is the most effective way to ensure consistent access.

That's why in 2021, we launched our newest initiative to transform school cafeterias into hunger-fighting machines, PataSchool.

WHAT WE KNOW

1 in 5 children in our community is living with hunger. Families and children rely on school meals to meet their nutritional needs. School meals account for 15% of hunger relief in Indiana and represent 50% of a child's daily calories. That’s what makes PataSchool so impactful for our community.

HOW PATASCHOOL WORKS

The Patachou Foundation believes that solving childhood hunger starts in the school cafeteria. PataSchool leverages our 10 years of experience and culinary professionalism to activate school cafeterias to fight hunger, create positive, measurable outcomes, and place hunger solutions into communities.

The PataSchool model:

  • Restores working kitchens in schools

  • Helps hire and train culinary staff at school partners

  • Provides free meals to 100% of the student body

Currently, PataSchool provides 270,000 meals to 750 students at our school partners, Circle City Prep & Emma Donnan, per school year. With continued investment and work, PataSchool can continue to provide access to high-quality meals to students around Indianapolis.

Kitchen transformation at Circle City Prep, a PataSchool Partner. They now have the capacity to serve their students 3500 scratch-made meals each and every week.

 

Wishtv FEATURE: "UnPHILtered": PataSchool helps meet Indianapolis students' nutrition needs

News 8 anchor Phil Sanchez on Tuesday night’s “UnPHILtered” talked with Matthew Feltrop, executive director of PataSchool, about its efforts.

FIGHT HUNGER IN THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA

Culinary Director Chef Shannon Mitchell highlights the need for a more sustainable hunger-relief model, and how PataSchool will allow the Patachou Foundation to multiply its footprint by meeting kids where they are.

WRTV FEATURE: Circle City Prep Partners with THE Patachou Foundation to cook meals for students

At CCP, 93% of the students qualify for free or reduced meals and 87% are students of color. Most are at constant risk for food insecurity.

PataSCHOOL number ONE: CIRCLE CITY PREP

Megan Murphy, Founder and Head of School at Circle City Prep, shares why Circle City Prep is uniquely positioned to be the first school to implement the PataSchool model.