On Friday afternoons at a Southcrest Head Start center in San Diego, families are getting ready for the weekend. Backpacks are zipped, teachers share quick goodbyes at the door and parents pick up their children.
Stefani Wiley is one of those parents. Her daughter attends the Neighborhood House Association (NHA) Head Start program, where nutritious meals during the school day make a meaningful difference for children and families alike. Like many of the more than 1,200 families NHA serves, Stefani’s household counts on that support.
She has also seen firsthand how quickly circumstances can change.
“I’m on SNAP myself, so we’re always making meals at home, stretching groceries and making sure every dollar counts,” Wiley said in an interview with ABC 10News San Diego.
For families like hers, school meals help provide reliable nutrition during the week. But when Friday arrives, and those meals pause, stretching grocery dollars to cover the weekend can become even more challenging.
That’s the gap a new weekend meal program at NHA is helping families like Stefani’s make sure children have nourishing food at home, even when the school week ends.
This story builds on reporting originally featured by ABC 10News San Diego.
Filling the Weekend Gap
“We know that many times the children go home on Friday, as they’re being picked up from preschool and may not have another nutritious meal until Monday when they come back,” said Lisa Gillespie, Vice President of Administration for the Head Start program at NHA, to ABC 10 News San Diego.
NHA saw the need and, with the support of a $250,000 grant from the San Diego Foundation Unity Fund, is now filling the weekend gap.
NHA families now head home for the weekend with recipe cards and a small bag of groceries including items like oatmeal, pasta, bread, peanut butter and other staples.
For families like Stefani’s navigating rising food costs and limited resources, that extra support can make a meaningful difference.
“A full loaf of bread that gets you more than a weekend’s worth, if we plan it out right,” she said.
Stefani added that even the recipe card is helpful for families who may not always know what to make with the ingredients they receive.
Coming Together for Community
Across San Diego County, nonprofits are working to meet growing needs while navigating an increasingly challenging funding landscape.
According to the report, 68% of the region’s more than 13,000 nonprofits have experienced increased demand for services. At the same time, 81% of nonprofit leaders report a decrease in funding from at least one major revenue source such as federal funding.
The San Diego Foundation Unity Fund was created to help strengthen nonprofits working to support families across the region with basic needs like food, housing and healthcare. Through flexible funding and community partnerships, the fund supports organizations like Neighborhood House Association that are responding to urgent needs while building long-term stability for the communities they serve.
For parents like Stefani, that support is deeply felt by NHA showing up for families like hers.
“This is what it’s about, right? Neighborhood House Association is community, and when we think about community, this is exactly what it is,” said Wiley.
Programs like the NHA weekend meal initiative show what is possible when nonprofits, funders and community members come together – making sure children and families have the food they need every day of the week.
