TAKE A PICTURE, TELL A STORY

About a year ago, the Forum and FRAC (The Food Research and Action Center) launched the "Take a Picture, Tell a Story" campaign, urging CACFP sponsors to create their own booklets with pictures of providers and children on their individual programs. What better way to educate those unfamiliar with our program and the wonderful things that happen as a result of the benefits of CACFP? A picture really is worth a thousand words. I put my booklet together and have since added to it and updated the information. In addition to sharing my book with my elected officials, I've also found that the booklet is a very useful tool as an orientation tool for new staff or new board members.

Where to start?
· Buy disposable cameras, and have your monitors take pictures while on visits
· Take pictures of your providers and their children, preferably at mealtime or snack time.
· Remember to get appropriate photo releases from the provider and parents
· Mount them on colored paper, add captions with the provider's name and how long she has participated on the program
· Include quotes from providers about what the program means to them, what they would do if benefits were cut, how the reimbursements helps them serve more nutritious meals
· Once the photos have been mounted to the pages, you might want to have color copies made of all the pages so that you have multiple copies you can share.
· Include samples of educational materials such as recipes, menus or other materials you give to your providers
· Use a folder, 3-ring notebook or some type of scrap book to put all your materials together

To see sample pages of the Take a Picture, Tell a Story Booklet, click each of the following links. Then, click "back" in your browser to return to this page.
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3

CLICK HERE for a sample model release that you can customize. You will need releases signed by the parents of the children whose pictures you are taking.

Lynn Goering, President, National CACFP Forum