Jean Allen and Janet Grochowski from CFI Feed Local Kids Through the Summer Meals Program
Summer is the peak season for childhood hunger as kids lose access to school meals they rely on during the academic year. Over 20 years ago, Hunger Task Force established the Summer Meals Collaborative, nationally recognized as the “Milwaukee Model,” and continues to coordinate hundreds of meal sites across Milwaukee County every summer to ensure kids have access to healthy meals after the school year ends.
This critical work depends on trusted community partners.
One of the largest and longest-serving Summer Meals partners is Centers for Independence (CFI), which has been working in partnership with Hunger Task Force since 2000. What began with just 10 meal sites 26 years ago has grown into one of Milwaukee County’s largest summer meal operations serving more than 181,000 meals at 150 meal sites in 2025 including parks, recreation centers, community youth organizations, charter schools and early learning centers. CFI is projected to prepare roughly 60% of all meals coordinated through the Milwaukee Model.
“As food insecurity rises and food deserts expand across our region, the need for programs like ours has never been more urgent” said Heidi Chada, CFI President & CEO.
Behind the scale of that work is a dedicated pair we are proud to honor as true Friends of Free & Local.
For the past decade, Jean Allen and Janet Grochowski have helped lead and support CFI’s growing summer meals operation together. While their day-to-day responsibilities look very different, their partnership has become a critical part of ensuring children across Milwaukee receive healthy meals every summer.
Jean Allen started with CFI more than 10 years ago as a summer meal site monitor after retiring from Milwaukee Public Schools, where she spent 26 years working in food service and special education support roles. Before joining CFI, she also supervised summer meal distributions for the Salvation Army.
“No matter where I’ve been, I’ve always been feeding kids or serving people in some way,” Jean says.
Today, Jean serves as CFI’s Customer Service Manager and spends much of the summer out in the community supporting meal sites directly. She manages hundreds of calls from partners throughout the summer and makes more than 200 site visits during the busiest months. She helps site coordinators troubleshoot issues, stay compliant with program requirements and feel supported throughout the season.
Janet Grochowski, CFI’s Operations Specialist, joined the organization nearly 10 years ago after owning and operating a Cousins Subs franchise for more than a decade. What began as a temporary summer monitoring role quickly evolved into a full-time operations position supporting compliance, food safety and program coordination.
Today, Janet oversees much of the administrative and compliance infrastructure that keeps CFI’s Summer Meals program running. She manages food safety training, USDA paperwork, meal counts, dashboards and reporting systems for hundreds of meal sites across Milwaukee County.
For Jean, the impact of the work always comes back to the kids supported by the program. “I may not be the one serving meals at the park, but I know the work I do helps make those meals possible,” she shares. “That’s incredibly rewarding.”
Together, the pair describe their partnership as a “wonderful balance.”
As summer meal participation continues growing across Milwaukee County, partnerships between organizations like Hunger Task Force and CFI remain essential to ensuring children have reliable access to healthy meals while school is out. To learn more about the program or find locations and mealtimes, visit: www.HungerTaskForce.org/summer-meals.
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