There are over 18,000 children in East-Central Indiana who don’t have reliable, nutritious meals, along with other barriers to success caused by poverty. The Big Idea initiative unites schools, families, and resource providers in order to distribute resources, build connections, and create opportunities for children to chart a path to long-term stability.
The Big Idea
THE BIG IDEA SCHOOL EVENTS
A Path Forward
Big Idea events create an opportunity to connect school staff, families, career presenters, and local organizations to ultimately benefit the entire community. Caregivers, students, and school staff learn about ways to improve the social/emotional/wellness factors that positively impact a student’s learning environment. All of these pieces join together to form one Big Idea. The Big Idea that our children, families, schools, and communities thrive when we all work together to support and encourage everyone’s individual talents and dreams.
Food
At a typical Big Idea school event, we provide approximately 30-35 pounds of food for a family. We encourage schools to implement a choice model to create a shopping experience for families, because people deserve a choice in nutrition. Food often includes shelf-stable items, fresh produce, and freezer items.
Hygiene Supplies
Often families are forced to choose between certain items to make their budget work. We strive to supply basic hygiene products like soap, toothpaste, shampoo, laundry products, cleaning supplies, period supplies, household paper products, and more through our Big Idea schools.
Community Resources
At Big Idea events, essential resources for healthcare, job security, college assistance, community/family programs, and more are available to attendees. By making these resources readily available we help alleviate time and transportation related barriers that would often prevent families from taking advantage of these community resources.
Relationships
Caregiver involvement and the school-family relationship in education is crucial in achieving: higher test scores, better attendance, improved behavior/social skills, and adaptiveness. The Big Idea initiative is intentionally designed to shift the focus from solely a food distribution to having a more community event feel, encouraging engagement from all caregivers.
THE BIG IDEA PARTNER SCHOOLS
We partner with schools all across East-Central Indiana. Is your school one of them? Check the listings below to see if your child attends one of our Big Idea Schools. If so, you’re welcome to attend one of their distributions. Reach out at the number or email provided to find out when to arrive!
765-289-7129
765-747-5434
765-283-0916
765-216-7980
765-747-5401
765-747-5410
765-747-5260
765-747-5290
765-747-5422
765-747-5320
765-747-5226
765-747-5437
765-664-7355
765-934-3551
765-998-2550
765-664-0589
765-662-7364
765-677-4400
765-536-0084
765-662-2427
765-521-7205
765-345-2151
765-521-7209
765-521-7217
765-724-4166
765-641-2109
765-641-2037
765-641-2046
765-641-2047
765-641-2099
765-754-7545
765-641-2059
765-536-2875
765-641-2103
765-378-3393
765-964-4840
North Manchester Intermediate
765-289-7129
DIAPER BANK
Through our partnerships, we provide diapers, wipes, and other supplies to parents of young children. 1 in 3 parents struggle to afford diapers, but thanks to our membership in the National Diaper Bank Network we were able to distribute almost 400,000 diapers in 2021.
PERIOD SUPPLIES
No one should have to miss school because they can’t access menstrual health supplies. Thanks to our partnership with the Alliance For Period Supplies we are able to make them freely available to schools to meet this need so that students can focus on learning.
