Friday, Jul. 25, 2008

July 27

Dear Editor:

Approximately 2,100 children in the Grapevine-Colleyville and Southlake school districts qualified for either free or reduced-priced meals last year.

This surprisingly large number increases to about 2,600 when you add in the under- school-age siblings. Hunger becomes a greater problem in the summer when families can’t rely on the consistent school lunches.

There are two organizations in our community that are trying to help relieve that burden during the summer. For the second summer, the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District offered a federally-funded breakfast and lunch program. About 160 children came for breakfast and 240 came for lunch each weekday.

Unfortunately, this program ended July 18. In its fourth year, Feed Our Kids is another program that helps to feed children in the summer.

Through Feed Our Kids, GRACE teams up with individuals, churches, and civic groups in our community to prepare and serve lunches to approximately 500 children each weekday of the entire summer.

Even with these two great programs, many children are still not receiving the help they need. This could be because they do not know that lunches are available through these programs, and/or they do not have transportation to the serving sites.

For the past four years, I have participated in Feed Our Kids with my family through our church. If more people participate, Feed Our Kids can expand their serving sites to be able to improve the lives of more children.

Will you join me?

—Shelby Brown, Southlake