Kids-Eat-Free Because of You!
| Dear CCA, We expect to see children’s faces light up when CCA volunteers provide healthy lunches for children through our Kids Eat Free summer program, but the unexpected surprised our volunteer. “We saw moms crying when they saw the meals for the first time,” one volunteer told us. “They expressed their gratitude and told us how much this means to their family.” Our goal this summer is to provide children in locations throughout our service area with a total of 50,000 healthy meals. Your help is crucial to help us feed these children. In Texas, 14% of all households are food insecure, meaning they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. For children in Texas, it’s worse, almost 20%. That translates to 1 in 5 children battling hunger. Texas, unfortunately, ranks among the worst in this category, according to Feeding America. Children who don’t get enough to eat are at a serious disadvantage; they’re more likely to be hospitalized and face higher risks of health conditions. They are more likely to have problems in school as well, and according to Feeding America, “the pandemic has most impacted families that were already facing hunger or one paycheck away from facing hunger.” CCA’s Kids Eat Free program addresses the physical and emotional needs of these children during the summer months. We identify strategic sites from low-income households who would otherwise receive free or reduced lunch at school. With the help of faithful volunteers, we’re there every weekday during the summer, providing meals for them. We even send the children home on Fridays with healthy food for the weekend. And, thanks to area churches, the children also receive books and educational materials. “We eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner sometimes. My mom and dad have to go without just so that us kids can have food in our stomachs.” 8-year old Zoey tell us. When she grows up, she wants to be a veterinarian. But before Zoey can be a veterinarian, she needs to grow up healthy and strong. And for her family, that can be hard because there’s not a lot of food in the fridge to feed everyone. For over 48 years, CCA has ministered to the poor by providing comprehensive services that alleviate suffering, bring hope and change lives. Kids Eat Free is but one of our many programs designed to do just that. We’ve also been busy over the last 14 months, preventing families from becoming homeless by providing rental assistance, help with keeping their lights on, and feeding up to 600 families and senior citizens with healthy meals and groceries every week. We’ve been able to do this because the community has responded in grand fashion, and we need our neighbors from all over the area to continue responding for programs like Kids Eat Free. Please prayerfully consider contributing today to fund programs like this one for children in our community who are battling hunger each day. Thank you for helping to feed children this summer at a crucial time in their lives. God Bless, |
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| Gilbert Montez President & CEO |
| P.S. A fun way to help support our work with children and families is to join us on Sept. 25th at our Hopeful Hearts 5K Stampede in partnership with Old Town Lewisville’s Western Days. Sign up today! |