Program offers meals to hungry city children
By John Joyce
Published in News on March 23, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/JOHN JOYCE
Members of the First Baptist and First African Baptist churches volunteer at Dillard Middle School for the city's Child Feeding Nutrition and Outreach Program. More than 125 free meals were served to members of the community on Saturday alone.
The city of Goldsboro and community volunteers have launched a weekend program to help feed the city's low-income children.
Each weekend through June 7, volunteers will serve meals at two local schools in an effort to make sure that no child goes through a weekend without a good meal.
There are more than 7,000 children enrolled in the Wayne County Public Schools system. Of that number, more than 5,000 qualify for the school system's free lunch program.
From 3 to 5 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday, the city will provide free meals to any child and his or her parents who come to Dillard Middle School or to Wayne Academy.
"It's called food insecurity, which means for a lot of these children they go one or more days without a meal," said Shycole Simpson-Carter, director of community development for the city.
More than 40 children were served at Dillard Middle Saturday. A total of 125 meals were prepared by volunteers, the remainder of which were taken on foot into the community and handed out to children.
"Some of these children only get a meal when school is in," Mrs. Simpson-Carter said.
The Child Feeding Nutrition and Outreach Program began March 15 after months of preparation. The program will be evaluated at it's conclusion June 7, and adjustments will be made to increase the city's ability to reach hungry children.
Summer feeding programs already exist, some of which are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other government sources. The volunteers, however, come from the community.
Goldsboro Community Affairs Director LaTerrie Ward said the joint program between the city, school system and community members is key to being there for the children who need help most.
"We are providing dinner because that is the meal they miss most often," she said.
No adult accompanying a child will be turned away, but adults who are on their own can go to the Fordham House on North William Street, the soup kitchen on George Street or the Community Crisis Center on South Slocumb Street.
Eighteen volunteers from sister churches First Baptist and First African Baptist of Goldsboro were on hand to prepare and to package meals containing a meat, a starch and a vegetable for hungry children and their parents. Beverages including fruit punch and apple juice were also made available.
The Rev. Glenn Phillips of First Baptist Church said nine volunteers went to each school to pass out meals.
"We love this community. If there are hungry kids out here, we wanted to feed them." he said. The church volunteers will contribute one weekend a month, each month through June. Other community groups and churches also alternate weekends.
Mrs. Simpson-Carter said the city is beefing up its outreach efforts. More than 1,200 fliers informing the public were distributed by the Goldsboro Housing Authority and an email blast was sent out to community organizations.
"We are doing all we can to get the word out, on the city's Facebook page, on our personal Facebooks," she said.