Finding and Feeding Hard to Reach Kids

Kids’ Meals Inc.(Houston, TX): Their popular “Meals on Wheels” program, the first of its kind, delivers 1,200 healthy meals to preschoolers living in poverty in Houston. Free lunches are delivered directly to the children’s homes, Monday through Friday, year-round. A No Kid Hungry Innovation Award will help Kids’ Meals expand to serve an extra 500 children during the summer, providing an additional 30,500 lunches.

In addition to providing lunches, the program supplies families with donated fruits, groceries, and vegetables. Kids’ Meals picks, sorts, and delivers the donated items along with the lunches. This innovative use of in-kind donations allows Kids Meals to keep operational costs to a minimum. In 2009, Kids’ Meals delivered 297,695 healthy lunches to children. In 2010, the goal is to serve more than 300,000 meals to hungry children.

Hacienda Community Development Corporation (CDC) (Portland, Oregon): For more than 17 years, Hacienda CDC has been providing meals and cultural, recreational and educational services to low-income immigrant and minority families in neglected neighborhoods.

Expresiones is CDC’s afterschool and summer enrichment program for youth aged 5 to 14 years. The program provides more 230 youth at four different sites with culturally specific activities every day after school, and five days per week during the critical summer months. A nutritious snack or meal is always included in the activities. Hacienda plans to expand the Expresiones program from 230 to 260 participants during the 2010-2011 school year, drawing participants from nearby affordable housing developments, and open a new site in North Portland.

We’ll share the stories of the other nominees in the Making Connections category in our next post. Voting ends June 20 for the Making Connections category. Cast your vote here and help a deserving organization win a $25,000 No Kid Hungry Innovation award for feeding kids who are hard to reach.