Kids Café®

Hunger has no place at our table

Since it started in 2001, the Kids Café® works to reduce childhood hunger & malnutrition by:

• Serving healthy, kid friendly meals & food to take home on the weekends
• Providing nutrition education
• Providing a nurturing and fun place for kids to be afterschool and in the summer time.

In 2008 Kids Cafe® served 4,935 meals to 470 children.

Kids Café® was in started in response to a growing number of children coming to the Soup Kitchen unaccompanied by an adult. We realized there was a major, unmet need in our neighborhood. This was also an opportunity to address childhood hunger in a way that not only fed kids, but also engaged and nurtured them. Good nutrition is fundamental to the development and educational success of children, Kids Café works to ensure the children of our neighborhood have access to this critical need.

Kids Café® is primarily about making sure children in poverty have access to good, healthy food, but it is so much more than that. We emphasize nutrition education through fun, hands on experience of preparing healthy food and organic gardening. Activities involve art and physical activities and honor the culture and heritage of all who come to Kids Café®.

Volunteer with Kids Café®

Volunteers are an important component of Kids Café. Volunteers are needed in all aspect of the Kids Café program and for special projects. Learn more about volunteering with the Damiano Center’s Kids Café (pdf file linked below).

The Kids Café® is a Damiano program in partnership with:

The Duluth Community Garden Program &
America’s Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank

School year Hours: Monday - Thursday 4:00 to 5:30
Summertime hours: Monday - Friday 11:30 to 1:00

For more information, contact:
Laurel Sanders, Program Coordinator
Room 204 - (218) 336-1033