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Header showing hands packing meals with headline that reads "Meals with a Mission"

Students Learning. Families Supported. Community in Action.

Meals with a Mission turns hands-on learning into something that can make a meaningful difference for a family.

Through this innovative Jefferson-Lewis BOCES program, students in Hospitality Services plan and prepare family-sized meals, while students in Visual Communications create the materials used to label the packages.  The finished meals are frozen and ready when they’re needed, easy to reheat or microwave and serve at home.

United Way staff pose with BOCES instructor and students holding food supply items.

Learning With Purpose

Meals with a Mission gives students an opportunity to put classroom learning into action while working toward a shared purpose.

Hospitality Services students plan menus and prepare a variety of family-friendly meals, including chicken and biscuits, pasta, casseroles and more. Visual Communications students use their own skills to create the ingredient labels that accompany each meal.

It’s real-world experience that brings different areas of study together while showing students how their skills can be used to help others.

A Helping Hand When It’s Needed

Within the BOCES community, school staff such as social workers, nurses and others who work closely with students and families may recognize when a household is going through a difficult time.

Meals with a Mission gives them a simple, practical way to help.

A prepared meal may not solve every challenge a family is facing, but it can make one evening a little easier. The meals are provided discreetly, allowing BOCES to respond to a need while respecting the privacy and dignity of each family.

A Partnership With Purpose

Meals with a Mission is a partnership between Jefferson-Lewis BOCES and United Way of Northern New York.

BOCES students, educators and staff bring the creativity, skills and care that make the program possible. United Way serves as fiscal sponsor and program partner, helping coordinate the initiative, accept charitable contributions, issue tax receipts, and purchase food, containers and other supplies needed to keep the program moving.

Together, we’re helping students learn by doing while making sure BOCES families know their community is there for them.

See Meals with a Mission in Action

See how students from across Jefferson-Lewis BOCES are putting their skills to work and discover how a simple idea, preparing a meal for someone who could use a helping hand, has grown into something pretty special.