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Children’s Hunger Project Feeds Hungry Kids on Weekends
By Debra Foley
Over fifty percent of students in Brevard Public Schools are either qualified for or taking advantage of free and/or reduced lunch, according to Kevin Thornton, director of food and nutrition services for the district. Many schools have much higher percentages of qualified students.
The Children’s Hunger Project was created to serve some of these students on weekends when the free lunch at school on Friday may be the last nutritious meal they get until they return to school for breakfast on Monday. Packages of food are provided to schools to distribute for identified students to take home for the weekend.
At Riviera Elementary in Palm Bay, the program’s inaugural school back in 2010, students would gather on Fridays in the cafeteria for the backpack club. “Students squealed with glee sometimes as they rushed to our school’s cafeteria,” said Linda Piccolella, Riviera’s principal at the time. “We always spent a few minutes enjoying each other’s company and talking about how happy we were to see the children.”
In the beginning, the program fed just 140 kids at Riviera. The Children’s Hunger Project now serves more than 1,600 elementary students at 41 schools every week. “Our growth over the past eight years is because Brevard County has answered the call of hungry children,” Keith Gee, executive director of The Children’s Hunger Project said. “Faith-based organizations, corporations and individuals have stepped up to help provide food to these over-looked children. We created our Feed 500 Campaign to get 500 people to step up and donate $12.50 each month for a year so that we can feed another 500 local
children next year and get us that much closer to our goal of eliminating childhood hunger from our community.”
Food packages are designed in coordination with nutritionists at Brevard Public Schools and packaged by
volunteers at The Children’s Hunger Project donated headquarters in Cocoa. “We rely heavily on our volunteers,” said Gee.
“I will always remember a young boy who smiled and said ‘This is my package of happiness!,’” Piccolella said. “That little boy’s remark confirmed for me the success of The Children’s Hunger Project.”
To join the Feed 500 Campaign or get more information about The Children’s Hunger Project, please visit www.thechildrenshungerproject.org.
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