Filling in the Blanks Helps Food-Insecure Families

NORWALK, Conn. — A local nonprofit organization wants Norwalk families experiencing food insecurity to know they have options when it comes to “Filling in the Blanks.”

Norwalk-based Filling in the Blanks “fights childhood hunger by providing children in need with meals on the weekends,” according to its website.

It also provides Norwalk residents in need with free fresh food from its mobile food pantry, which makes a stop at the St. Ladislaus parking lot, located at 6 Soundview Ave., on the second Saturday of every month from 8 to 10 a.m.

According to Tina Kramer, who founded Filling in the Blanks in 2013 with fellow mom and community activist Shawnee Knight, the mobile food pantry provides around 20 different items every month in a self-select format.

“People go around the truck and pick what they want,” said Kramer. “We have fresh produce, milk, eggs, bread, protein—we sometimes have chicken or pork—and then we have onions, potatoes, lettuces or cilantro, plantains, tomatoes—a variety of whatever is in season and what we can purchase within the budget,” she added. 

Knight called it akin to “a farmers market shopping experience” where people are provided “with 50 to 75 lbs. of food that would cost someone $125 plus, depending on the items.”

The service, which is free to anyone who needs it, typically draws about 450 to 525 families every month when it visits Norwalk. All that’s required is some form of ID—like a driver’s license or passport—that includes a home address.

In an effort to provide “a holistic approach to other services families might need,” the mobile food pantry teams up with “community providers who come and provide whatever services they have, whether it’s blood pressure, Covid tests, immigration information, financial literacy—we have a variety of community partners that come and offer their services,” said Kramer.

Beyond the mobile food pantry, Filling in the Blanks provides nutritious weekend food to children throughout the year—even over the summer—via meal bags distributed at schools on Fridays that contain four meals (two breakfasts and two lunches) and four snacks “to bridge the weekend gap when school-provided breakfast and lunches are not available,” according to its website.

“We have 1,500 kids registered for Norwalk alone,” said Kramer. “We are in every public school and 33 different sites throughout Norwalk.”

Families interested in signing their kids up for weekend meal bags over the summer may do so by visiting fillingintheblanks.org.

Children who are signed up will take home shelf-stable food items every Friday over the summer from their program or camp. 

When it comes to what goes into the meal bags, Kramer said Filling in the Blanks rotates through three different menus and works with a dietitian.

“We try to balance it out … all items are brand name,” she added.

According to Kramer, she and Knight started Filling in the Blanks in 2013, “when we learned there were over 34,000 kids in Fairfield County struggling with food insecurity.” 

“So, we decided to figure out a way to cover the weekend, when the school breakfast and lunch programs weren’t available, and we started in a house in New Canaan, packing bags for 50 kids,” she recalled. “And now, fast forward 12 years, we are serving 10,300 children a week every single week all through Fairfield County … and in Putnam and Westchester counties [in New York] too.”

Filling in the Blanks has a 7,500-square-foot warehouse on Main Avenue in Norwalk, where volunteers help pack approximately 10,000 meal bags each week. 

The nonprofit raises money to purchase food through fundraisers, events, grants, and donations.

“We purchase 99.9 percent of the food that we distribute,” said Kramer.  “All of the raw materials come to our warehouse, and then we pack the bags here. We have six packing events a week. We have private individuals, corporate individuals, and youth groups [that help out]. Age 14 and up can come pack.”

About 12,000 people volunteer each year to help Filling in the Blanks, including Kramer and Knight, who don’t draw salaries but have 11 paid staff members.

Since October 2023, Filling in the Blanks has delivered 1.1 million pounds of fresh food through the mobile pantry alone.

In the last 12 years, the nonprofit has also distributed 4.6 million weekend meal bags. 

“Just for 2025, we will probably serve 1.5 million weekend meals,” said Knight. “And it’s $500 to feed a child for the year.”

Anyone interested in donating to or volunteering for Filling in the Blanks, or signing up for its services, is encouraged to visit fillingintheblanks.org.