Taryn Glidewell teaches clients at Harvesters to stretch their food dollars

Tell me about the Go for the Green Food Drive that is happening right now in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day. This food drive is a unique opportunity for schools, businesses and organizations to combat hunger in our community. For the past 30 years, the Kansas City St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee has sponsored this drive in conjunction with Harvesters, and it goes through March 17. Last year, 39,400 meals were distributed through this food drive, with 36,972 pounds of food collected and $1,160 donated.

A large portion of the donated food comes from school food drives, but Price Chopper has joined in the effort by hosting food collection barrels in each of their stores. People can also donate money online. This food drive is particularly important, because — while everyone is aware of hunger during the holidays — we are heading into summer.

Many more children are hungry when school is out of session because they aren’t getting the meals they normally would during the school year. We often think of malnourished children who are overseas when we think of hunger. But it’s right here, under our noses.

And when a body is hungry, there’s little else one can think about, except food. Children can’t focus on schoolwork when their stomachs are empty. To make a difference in these kids’ lives, we have to help feed them first.

And it’s important to not just give them processed foods; we need to help them get excited about helping to prepare meals with fresh ingredients.

More than 40 percent of food-insecure children live in households that don’t qualify for federal nutrition programs. Is that where the Harvesters Nutrition Education classes come into play? We have a number of cooking classes available for teens and adults in low- and fixed-income brackets, and after each class, they each leave with a bag of groceries.

But we also have a program called Kids in the Kitchen, which teaches children about nutrition and how to make healthy snacks. A staff of AmeriCorps volunteers goes out into the community to teach these classes, which can be part of an after-school program or in a community center. Here, children can have fun with food and learn about ingredients such as an avocado. When they learn how to make guacamole using that avocado, they can’t get enough of it.

Why did you choose this recipe to share? This recipe comes from our Harvesters cookbook, which we use for our nutrition education classes. This recipe feeds eight people and costs $1.47 per person to make. It includes potatoes, which is not only a staple in the diets of the Irish, but also many other cultures.

The recipes in our cookbook, “Quick Cooking to Benefit Body and Budget,” promote good nutrition and are easy and cost-effective to prepare, with ingredients to which most everyone has easy access.

I feel so very lucky growing up in Raytown with a single mom, Cheryl Glidewell, and sister, Cristyn Watkins, that we never had to worry about from where our next meal was coming. Now, my mother has a farm in Leavenworth, and the three of us get together at least once a week to cook and eat together.

My father, Jack Glidewell, lives in Mobile, Ala., and even though I didn’t grow up with him, he shares stories about what it was like to grow up with little money for food. This just reinforces how important it is to have a community network like Harvesters that helps feed and nurture those who are most vulnerable.

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Taryn Glidewell teaches clients at Harvesters to stretch their food dollars."