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Lyle’s Lunchbox was proud to provide much-needed breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and drinks for 200 hungry students in Mauston, WI during their winter break. After seeing the incredible response teenagers had to the meat and cheese sticks we offered in 2020 and 2021, we knew we needed to add to our Winter Break Bags. We were excited to introduce Elementary Student Winter Break Bags and Teenager Winter Break Bags.

In our Elementary Student Winter Break Bags, our younger students (ages 4-10) received the same delicious foods they expect from us:

• 6 Breakfasts
• 6 Lunches
• Snacks for every day
• A bag of fresh fruits
• Meat Sticks
• Cheese sticks
• Half-gallon of milk

New in 2022, our extra-hungry pre-teens and teenagers (ages 11-18) received extra-filling Teenager Winter Break Bags with the all the same foods as the younger children, but with added food to sustain their rapid-growing bodies.

• 6 Breakfasts
• 6 Lunches
• Snacks for every day
• A bag of fresh fruits
• Meat Sticks
• Cheese sticks
• Half-gallon of milk

New in our Teenager Winter Break Bags:

• Extra soups
• Extra cereals
• Chili
• Crackers
• Extra meat sticks

In December 2021, Lyle’s Lunchbox partnered with the Community Sharing Food Pantry in Mauston, WI, to provide Winter Break bags to 200 children who would otherwise experience significant hunger during the weeks they are home on break. These precious children (and their parents) rely on the Free and Reduced Breakfast and Lunch Program to provide two meals every school day, and when they aren’t in school…things get hard.

Pandemic-related unemployment presented new challenges for struggling families. Together, we were able to provide the following for each child:

– 7 breakfasts
– 7 lunches
– healthy snacks including beef sticks, cheese sticks, and fresh fruit
– a coupon for half-gallon of white milk at a local grocer
– a handmade card, drawn by a child for a child

Each student also received a Personal Care Kit including:

-shampoo

-soap

-toothbrush

-toothpaste

-facial tissues

-cough drops

-Band-Aids, deodorant, or feminine hygiene products, depending on the child’s needs.

Thank you for your choice to join us in this important work. Every dollar donated makes a significant difference in what we are able to provide these hungry children.

We had 200 children counting on us last year, and we were thrilled to be able to offer them a winter break bag unlike any we had ever done. Last year our Winter Break Bags included:

– 7 breakfasts

– 7 lunches

– a coupon for half-gallon of white milk at a local grocer

– a handmade card, drawn by a child for a child

NEW for 2020:

– an entire bag of fresh fruit from a local orchard

– a bag of fresh cheese sticks and fresh beef sticks from Wisconsin River Meats

– a child-friendly cookbook

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to support the local farmers and community, and purchased as much as we could through them.

We handed out cookbooks both to educate our students about food and healthy eating, and also to encourage them to start making healthy foods on their own (as age-/ ability-appropriate). A lot of the adults we encounter in our work either don’t have basic cooking knowledge, or comfort in the kitchen, even when a lack of time is not a factor. We wanted to help break this cycle for our students, and hope they will carry the cooking skills they learn and healthy habits they develop with them as they grow into adulthood. We offered one cookbook for pre-school and elementary students, and one for middle and high school students. 

We achieved a major milestone in 2019; we surpassed 10,000 meals provided! In under three years, we have provided a total of 10,868 winter break meals to hungry children.

Even though fewer children needed our assistance this year (262 students, down from 300 in previous years), Mauston’s winter break was longer than in past years, and we wanted to make sure students didn’t go hungry despite the longer break. We gave an extra breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks to each child to feed them during the additional day of winter break. Overall, we provided 3,668 meals to our students in 2019. We also listened to the feedback our students and their families gave us, and added the option of fresh apples, thanks to Brux Orchards in Mauston, WI, and macaroni and cheese – something many students requested.

One detail which really touched our hearts this year was that parents started asking in August if we were going to provide winter break bags again. It was so heartwarming to see parents know they can count on us to help feed their children!

In 2018, we knew children would still go home to empty cabinets over winter break, so we stepped in to help again. Together with our incredibly generous donors, we again made sure those children did not go hungry; thanks to our amazing donors, we were able to provide 3,600 meals plus snacks and drinks!

We also listened to the feedback from our students and food pantry partners and began providing reusable bags, with artwork designed by a child, which are easier for families to carry. We also sent beautiful, hand-drawn cards and notes of encouragement and cheer as a surprise for the students.

Lyle’s Lunchbox began as the Lyle Wernimont Memorial Charity in 2017. Lyle was our founder’s father, and the charity was created as a way to continue Lyle’s legacy of feeding the hungry.  Following his death from cancer in 2011, we had been coordinating a food and donations drive with Mile Bluff Medical Center, the hospital where Lyle worked for over 20 years, and the Community Sharing Food Pantry in Mauston, WI, where he volunteered. In 2017, we learned that for children who receive free/reduced breakfast and lunch at school, winter break often meant going home to empty cabinets and hunger. Already struggling to feed them, their parents were facing the impossible task of providing two more meals, plus snacks, each day the children weren’t in school; and this at the end of the month when budgets are desperately tight. Students were often going hungry.

We knew we had to do something, and thus, the Lyle Wernimont Memorial Charity was born. That first winter break, we provided boxes containing 12 meals plus snacks and drinks to each of 300 students – a total of 3,600 meals!