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There are thousands of children in Seminole County that receive free or reduced lunches at school, but what do they eat when they are on break or off for the summer?
The sad truth is, many of these children would go without.
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| During the school year, economically disadvantaged children have access to healthy lunches through their eligibility for the federal Free/Reduced School Lunch Program. During school breaks, these children may be home alone while their parents work or lack the financial resources to stock the fridge with food for their children. The negative economy has hit thousands of Seminole County families hard. At the same time that basic costs for food, utilities and gas have escalated, parents have lost their jobs, had their hours reduced, and are living on the edge of poverty. Very often after paying the rent, the utilities, and other basics, there is simply no money left for such essentials as food. |
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| At HOPE’s Food Pantry, we provide free meat, produce, bread, and non-perishable food three days per week, including Saturday, to registered families in Seminole County. While serving our families in the food pantry, we hear about their struggles first hand and identified an increased need to feed the children of our community. In 2009, a soft launch of the “Kids of HOPE” summer lunch program began, a brainchild of HOPE’s Resource/Pantry Manager Christine Wright. HOPE was able to serve food to over 300 economically disadvantaged children, who may have gone without lunch. Unfortunately, funding at that time only allowed us to provide one lunch per week for each child. |
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This year our goal is to fully implement the “Kids of HOPE Enrichment Program”. We want to assure that the children in our community will have nutritious lunches for each day during the 9-week summer break, as well as all school breaks throughout the year.
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To serve lunch each day, 5 days a week, Monday-Friday for all school breaks to 450 children-
Full Program - 450 x $2.10 x 5 days per week x 13 weeks = $61,425.
Sponsor a week - $4,725.00
Sponsor a day - $945.00
One Child - One Day - $2.10
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You can help by donating funds, volunteering your time, sponsoring a week or day for Kids of HOPE. Sponsoring is the most cost-effective way to provide lunches to the children, as HOPE can purchase the healthy lunch items at a much lower cost than the general public. Healthy lunch items include:
- Easy Open cans of Pasta
- Bread
- Peanut Butter
- Jelly / Jam (grape / strawberry)
- Uncrustable Sandwiches
- Fruit Cups
- Juice Boxes
- Healthy snacks (such as fruit snacks, health bars, nuts)
- Fresh Fruit (if available)
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For more information contact:
Christine Wright • Resource and Food Pantry Coordinator •
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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