Photo by LYNDA STRINGER

A Food4kids recipient helps her mom load groceries they received from Titus County Cares Food Pantry.

July 15, 2016 | By LYNDA STRINGER

Many times, the food Titus County students receive in their backpacks on Fridays is the only food they have to eat for the weekend.

The Food4kids program, launched by Titus County Cares four years ago, has grown from serving 800 kids to 1,300 kids every week during the school year. To fund the program, TCC relies on community fundraisers and matching foundation grants to meet its $120,000 annual budget.

In July, TCC launched a support letter campaign to raise at least $15,000 in hopes of receiving a $15,000 matching grant from the Carl C. Anderson, Sr. and Marie Jo Anderson Charitable Foundation in Austin. The organization’s Claybuster Shoot held in April raised more than $35,000, which qualified them to receive a $30,000 matching grant from the Burt and Nancy Marans Charitable Fund.

It’s the third year they have applied for the Anderson Foundation grant but the first year they’ve raised the initial funding through a letter campaign. Previously the grant funds were tied to a fundraiser offering vintage aircraft rides to veterans through Mid America Flight Museum.

“We decided to go in a different direction because wanted to be able to able to include more people, to reach those who can give $10 or $25 as well as those who can give $500,” said TCC Executive Director Judy Lee.

She said a gift of $10 provides a sack of food for kids in 1st through 4th grades every Friday for one month. How important is that?

“It’s the difference in not having anything to eat over the weekend,” Lee said. “They need that extra food because ends don’t meet and they don’t have enough food.”

She shared the story of a single mom who works the evening shift at Pilgrim’s. She worried about her young daughter coming home to an empty house and having to feed herself.

“She was so happy to know that she would have something to eat on Friday night and she wouldn’t have to worry about her trying to cook something,” Lee said.

Each child in the family is eligible to receive the sacks filled with high-protein, healthy foods like pop-top canned meals, peanut butter crackers, cereal, powdered milk, cereal bars, beef sticks and juice boxes. The sacks are discreetly placed in the child’s backpack on Fridays. If a younger child has older siblings, they can bring home the sacks for their brothers and sisters in junior high and high school.

“They desperately need it, too,” Lee said. “So, we do it in a way so that no child gets made fun of or points out specific kids.”

The parents and the kids are appreciative of the hand up that helps them get through tough situations. A high school student who volunteered on the Tuesday night assembly line to pack the food bags told Lee he was there because he’d been a Food4kids recipient in the past when his dad lost his job.

“He said, ‘My brothers and I started getting these bags of food on the weekend and that really helped me so much,’” Lee said.

He told her when he heard about the weekly volunteer opportunity, he wanted to help so he could help do the same for another child.

“They know someone in this community cares about them.”

Lee has faith that the community will step up again to provide the funds needed to receive the grant for the 2016-2017 school year.

“The bottom line is God has provided every year and God will provide again,” she said.

To learn more about the program and to make a donation, go to TitusCountyCares.org.

Lynda Stringer is a Mount Pleasant-based freelance writer and owner of Stringer Media. Contact her at Lynda.Stringer@outlook.com.