Boys & Girls Club receives grant funding
The Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Texas in San Marcos was recently awarded a $75,000 grant from No Kid Hungry Texas to assist with providing free meals to children and families.
No Kid Hungry is a campaign of the Share Our Strength organization, which is committed to ending hunger and poverty. No Kid Hungry works to end childhood hunger by assisting in launching and improving programs that provide kids with healthy food.
“Organizations like the Boys & Girls Club play a significant role in the lives of children and families, providing access to both educational opportunities and healthy meals,” said Mia Medina, Program Manager at No Kid Hungry Texas. “We are proud to support the work of this incredible organization that will continue to help feed and nourish our communities across Texas.”
This grant is part of nearly $750,000 in funding No Kid Hungry has provided to schools and community organizations across Texas already this year.
“Snack is a great piece of our budget in order to, you know, operate after school programs, camps and things like that. And so this particular opportunity through the CACFP program, made it so that comes off of our budget, and is taken care of by this grant,” said Elton Fite, Operations and Programs Director for the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Central Texas.
Other Boys & Girls programs throughout Texas will use the grant money to purchase equipment that will help them prep and provide meals such as refrigerators and ovens. Since the South Central Texas club operates a charter school, meals come pre-made through the Texas Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs and the grant funding will go towards purchasing those meals.
“That translates into the ability to have more money for games and I guess you could say some equipment like sports equipment and things like that,” Fite said.
The after school programs at the Boys and Girls Club provide snacks for students while the summertime camps and programs offer breakfast and lunch to kids.
“In the summertime, we will be moving to a lunch and breakfast model and it will be held to provide by this grant as well,” Fite said. “And so during the summertime is really where you’ll get to see a kind of you know, flourish if you will because it’s a different offering.”
Fite spoke of the importance of the meals being provided for children that attend the Boys and Girls Club.
“It puts food in the mouths of youth who may be fighting for meals every day or go home and only have one meal a day or something like that. So it just, it really helps to ensure that all kids who you know, in the community who attend the Boys and Girls Club get served,” Fite said.
For volunteer opportunities and additional information regarding the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Texas, visit www.bgcsct.org or contact info@bgcsct.org via email.
