McLennan County Hunger Coalition

Local Hunger Coalition Providing Free Meals to Parents
“Have Lunch on Us” Program Sponsored by McLennan County Hunger CoalitionWHAT: The McLennan County Hunger Coalition is sponsoring a program entitled “Have Lunch on Us” which will provide parents accompanying their children to a free lunch at selected Summer Meals Feeding Sites where they can eat and enjoy a meal with their children.

WHY: The McLennan County Hunger Coalition is sponsoring and reinstating this program from a grant that was provided by Grande Communications. The program helps encourage parents to continue to bring their children to Summer Meals Feeding site locations, following the release of summer school. The coalition recognizes that many children will no longer be at a school site location, and will need to participate in the Summer Meals Program at a separate location for the rest of the summer duration.

The “Have Lunch on Us” program aspect is to encouraging parents to continue bringing their children to summer meals sites, by rewarding them to participate in the program with their children by being provided with a lunch that they can eat, and enjoy with their children, says, Hunger Coalition Vice-Chairperson, Ms. Esther Morales. This could also “increase the number of children who continue to have access to free meals” Morales added. The ultimate goal is to prevent children from facing hunger in the summer months ahead when sites are available for them to continue to receive free meals.

WHERE/ MOBILE FEEDING SITES:

Waco Central Library- 1717 Austin Avenue (Lunch Only) 11:30am-12:00pm

In East Waco there will be two participating sites.(Lunch Only at both Sites)

Estella Maxey Apartment – 1809 J.J. Flewellen Complex 12:10pm-12:30pm

TrendWood Apartment – 1700 Dallas Circle 12:40pm-1:00pm

WHEN: Starting Friday, July 13th Ending Friday July, 27th

HOW: The “Have Lunch on Us” program is being financially supported by Grande Communications, is a sponsored effort of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition, and is also sponsored by the Waco independent School District Child Nutrition Services as a community effort in affiliation with the Summer Feeding Program.

WHO: The McLennan County Hunger Coalition is a non-profit organization created in 2003 to combine the efforts of individuals and organizations dedicated to ending hunger in McLennan.

LIKE us on Facebook: @mclennancountyhungercoalition

FOLLOW us on Twitter: @mchcwaco

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 4, 2016

CONTACT: Robert Gager (230-7393) or Buddy Edwards (753-4593/722-7698)

“SPRING ONTO SUMMER FOOD DRIVE TO HELP PANTRIES FEED KIDS”

In order to help deal with the serious problem of child hunger in McLennan County which worsens in the summer when many children are home from school and cannot receive free, nutritional meals provided in schools, a special spring food drive is being conducted. The sixth annual “Spring Onto Summer Food Drive,” which will take place on Saturday, April 9, 2016, is designed to help local food pantries better meet the increased demand for supplemental food that is expected during the summer—a time when there is also a decrease in food and monetary donations to these organizations.

Pantries to receive food donated through this drive are: Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantries in Waco and Robinson, Salvation Army, Lake Shore Baptist Church, and Caritas of Waco.

When school is out, families in need have more mouths to feed at home, so the demand for food is greater at local pantries. The community is being asked to help restock the shelves of these local pantries and assist them in caring for people in need.

Individuals are encouraged to make donations of food on April 9^th between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. at one of the following locations:

Wal-Mart, 1521 N IH-35, Bellmead
Wal-Mart, 600 S. Hewitt Dr., Hewitt
Wal-Mart, 4320 Franklin, Waco
Sam’s Club, 2301 E. Waco Drive, Bellmead
Donations may be made on April 8^th (not the 9^th) from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Brookshire’s Food Store, 100 Peplow St., Robinson

Volunteers will be handing out lists of needed food items and encouraging shoppers to purchase such items while in the store and to place this food in specially-marked containers before leaving. Among needed food items are canned meats, canned vegetables, cereals, baby food, peanut butter, macaroni & cheese, dry beans, rice, corn meal and pasta/sauces. Monetary donations will also be accepted.

Walmart and Sam’s Club, KXXV-TV–Channel 25, and Grande Communications are serving as corporate sponsors for the drive.

For more information about how to donate to the food drive, please contact Bob Gager at 254-230-7393 or shepherds.heart@yahoo.com or Buddy Edwards at 254-722-7698 or caritas@grandecom.net.

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Have Lunch on Us! Parents EAT FREE at THREE Summer Meals Sites in July!

S.O.S. Food Drive is THIS SATURDAY, April 9, 2016