RAFP announces ‘Monster Meals’ weekend food program

After nearly 15 years of distributing weekend food bags through local elementary schools, the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry is launching a new monthly program designed to improve nutrition while reducing stigma for families facing food insecurity. While the name may prompt thoughts of Halloween, RAFP executive director Courtney Smith is confident the group’s new Monster Meals program is the best way to keep local children full and fed all year long. The tagline is “healthy not scary.”
The pantry will debut the new program on Sept. 18, transitioning from weekly backpack distributions at schools to monthly pickup events at the pantry facility. The program will serve children 18 and under with no income restrictions.
“We know we can do a better job of addressing food security and really take that step beyond immediate need,” Smith said. “We’re tired of constantly walking around saying, ‘these are the numbers.’ We want a new conversation about what it looks like when households are stable.”
The backpack program, which began in 2011 in partnership with the School District of Rhinelander, distributed 250-300 bags weekly to elementary students during the 32-week school year. Students carried the shelf-stable food home for weekend consumption.
The new model will provide monthly bags containing the equivalent of four to five weeks’ worth of food from the previous program, plus fresh items like bread, milk and produce that weren’t feasible in the school-based system, Smith explained.

“We were restricted to an easy-to-carry, shelf-stable bag, and we always really struggled with the contents being easy to carry and also healthy,” she said. “We ended up with a lot of processed foods.”
Each monthly bag will include snack foods like granola bars and applesauce cups, plus meal components such as cereal, peanut butter, jelly and fresh milk. The program will rotate contents across the nine-month school year to prevent redundancy.
Distribution will occur from 2-6 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, extending service from September through June — one month longer than the previous program.
Unlike the school-based model, the new program will serve all children in the community, including those attending private schools or being homeschooled.
Smith emphasized that food insecurity affects entire households, not just children, and the new model addresses this reality by working directly with adults.”Food insecurity is an adult issue, and we should all be taking our own piece of that in creating and building food security,” she said. “Backpack programs unintentionally single out children.”The pantry has maintained consistent service numbers despite moving its summer food program from the library to the pantry location, suggesting families are willing to visit the facility directly.The program operates entirely through donations, fundraising and grants. The pantry recently became a Summer Food Service Site, securing full funding through the state Department of Public Instruction for its summer programming.
The transition has strengthened the organization’s relationship with the school district, opening discussions about new ways to support student success and provide emergency meal assistance when needed, Smith explained.
No formal registration is required. Parents or guardians can sign up as proxies to collect bags for their children, with simple verification through a Badger Care card or school district correspondence.The program targets working families who may not qualify for other assistance programs but still struggle with food costs.
“These programs are really for our working households — keep them steady, keep them working, keep them well-fed and clipping along,” Smith said.
For more information about the Monster Meals program, families can contact the food pantry or visit during the monthly distribution hours beginning Sept. 18.