SOLVING CHILDHOOD HUNGER STARTS IN THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA.
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:
Reimagines what working kitchens in schools can do for school meals
Helps hire and train culinary staff at school partners
Provides free meals to 100% of the student body
Currently, PataSchool provides 250,000 meals each year to 1,500 students at our school partners, Purdue Polytechnic, Circle City Prep & Emma Donnan, per school year. These public schools work within the National School Lunch Program and Child Nutrition guidelines.
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.
CHALKBEAT FEATURE: CIRCLE CITY PREP CELEBRATES OPENING OF NEW CAFETERIA WITH SCRATCH KITCHEN AND CULINARY LAB
Jonnah Davidson walked into his school’s new cafeteria on Wednesday thoroughly impressed.
The new Circle City Prep cafeteria — known in school as “C3″ — is part of a $1.5 million investment the school made with the help…
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 double it’s footprint by meeting kids where they are.
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.
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.
a community-centered model
Bryan Daniel, the Community + Operations Director at The Patachou Foundation, talks about how the Foundation’s Food Philosophy inspired the PataSchool model, working to upend the hunger relief conversation and radically improve school food.