Thanks to your Facebook “likes”, Second Harvest Food Bank was among the winners of the Walmart Sparks Change grant. This grant helps food banks secure the food, equipment, and support needed to serve the 49 million Americans that according to the USDA, may not know where their next meal will come from at some point this year.
Your daily votes helped us win $60,000, the equivalent of 315,000 additional meals that will find their way into our community.
As part of our focus on, and commitment to childhood hunger, a significant part of the dollars were used to purchase new equipment for 4 of our 13 Kids Cafes.
Taft Boys & Girls Club took delivery of a much-needed industrial refrigerator, allowing the club to store more food for the approximately 80 children who rely on the after school center on a daily basis.
Anna Dieuveuil, Service Director, told us the following:
“Having a new refrigerator has made a world of a difference in our program. Many of our members are on free/reduced lunch and the Kids Cafe program is sometimes the only way they would be able to receive a meal after school. With the refrigerator we are able to serve more kids ensuring that every member who walks through our doors is able go home without being hungry.”
Our Kids Cafe at the Maxey Center in Winter Garden received a brand new stove to replace one that had seen better days. Maxey’s staff prepares meals on site. The stove will help them prepare nutritious, hot meals more quickly and efficiently.
Our oldest, continuously operated Kids Cafe, Lake Mann, situated in the Orlando Housing Projects has been an oasis for children for 20 years. Tables and chairs were replaced with new ones. The kitchen received an industrial microwave oven and innumerable, much needed, kitchen implements ranging from quality pots and pans to ladles.
Disney’s Clubhouse at the Pine Hills Boys & Girls Club happily accepted a large ice cube maker, something that will enhance juices and drinks for kids during hot days, making them more palatable, thereby encouraging consumption and keeping the kids hydrated. Along with the large piece of equipment, a stainless steel blender was part of the holiday package.
Thanks to all that voted and all others who’ve supported our efforts at addressing the nutritional needs of children since 1983.
We, along with the staff at our Kids Cafes, thank Walmart for its generosity.
Santos Maldonado
Childhood Hunger Programs Manager