A Sense of Family

 

Last school year Food & Friends helped to support over 19,000 students, each who benefit differently from this program. For some, it may be that parents or guardians have to choose between putting food on the table or paying the rent. For others, there is a lack of skill to prepare a healthy meal or snack. For some, the meal they receive through our program is the only meal they’ll have in a day.

One of the benefits of Food & Friends is that it is universally accessible so that any child or youth can get food without stigma. Another benefit of the program is that it brings students, volunteers and school/agency staff together to a table to eat which is something that some students rarely experience.

"Every Friday our program cooks a large community meal and sits down to lunch together. Last week a student (not the first) said this was their favorite day of the week because they never eat together at home. To this student, this meal felt like family.”

This month that celebrates family can remind us that some of our children and youth ache for the love and support of parents and guardians. This gives us reason to revel in the success of the Food & Friends Program and all the wonderful volunteers and school/agency staff that create this sense of family for these children and youth.