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Community Table plans are to expand ‘Food for Kids’ initiative
By Justin Goble
A local non-profit organization is doing its part to help needy kids.
Since late 2006, The Community Table has offered a “Food for Kids” program, which provides free weekend meals to 40 kids at Smokey Mountain Elementary School. According to Timara McCollum, director of the Community Table, the program was started to help students at the school who receive free or reduced-price lunch at schools.
While these students receive either free or reduced lunch at school, McCollum said many of them may not be able to get meals during the weekend.
Community Table Director Timara McCollum sorts through some of the items used for the “Food for Kids” program. Through this initiative, the Table provides weekend meals to 40 students at Smokey Mountain Elementary. McCollum said she, along with the social worker at the school, select students from those who receive free or reduced-price lunch. The program will be expanded to Blue Ridge School in 2008, and McCollum said she hopes to get enough donations and volunteers to serve more schools and students in the future. – Herald photo by Justin Goble.
Currently, 43 percent of the students in Jackson County qualify for free or reduced lunches. At SMES, that figure is 63 percent. That high number is why members of the Community Table decided to start there, McCollum said.
“The point of this program is to address that need,” McCollum said. “At any given night, we see a lot of people come and eat at the Community Table. But kids have to come with their parents. This way, we can expand our service and make sure they have good, nutritious meals.”
McCollum said the Table is currently in the process of expanding the program to Blue Ridge, where around 61 percent of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Meals will be provided for 40 students there as well.
To determine which students should be part of the program, McCollum said she meets with social workers at the school to determine which students will qualify. Notes are then sent home to parents asking whether they want their child to take part. Once the final list is determined, volunteers from the Community Table get the food to the schools.
“One of our volunteers goes out to Sam’s Club and gets two weeks’ worth of food at a time,” McCollum said. “Smoky Mountain High School’s Interact Club holds food drives as well. All that food is brought here, where some of the volunteers and I put all of the food into bags that teachers give to the kids at lunch time on Friday. They put them in the kids’ backpacks so they don’t forget. It also helps to keep the kids anonymous. We give them non-perishable items that are nutritious, like cereal bars and oatmeal.”
Currently, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina funds the program. Students in Western Carolina University’s service learning program are helping the Community Table out by writing applications for other grants as well. Some support for the Food For Kids program also came from the Food Lion Foundation, McCollum said.
“The grant for this project runs $3,682 for one semester,” McCollum said. “That’s paying for the food for 40 students, travel expenses, everything. For both SMES and Blue Ridge, it’s going to cost $7,300. At some point, I’d like to see volunteers taking over all of it. That way, we can see that money go solely towards food for the program.”
While the number of children who do qualify for free and reduced lunches is surprisingly high within the county, McCollum said many people don’t realize that these can be the children of people they know.
“I don’t think people are really aware of those statistics,” McCollum said. “Often, when people do see it, it’s just a number to them. But when you think about it, these kids could be your neighbors or someone you go to church with.”
Though some parents are uneasy with the idea of accepting what seems like a handout, McCollum said the service is there to help out during tough situations.
“Everyone goes through hard times,” McCollum said. “We just present this to parents as an additional source – something that can help out a little bit when they are going through a rough spot. We had one family where one of the kids was really sick. The mom told us later that this helped her take care of her other kids during that time.”
While the program’s obvious goal is to provide students with meals they may not have otherwise, McCollum said it has helped their performance in school as well. Teachers have reported that students taking part in the program are more focused and attentive in class than they were previously, McCollum said.
“One of the goals of the program was to have at least 75 percent of the students show some improvement in both their behavior and their grades,” McCollum said. “At SMES, teachers said that 93 percent of the students taking part have shown significant improvement in those areas.
“If you think about it, it makes sense,” she said. “If you’re hungry, you either can’t sit still or you’re falling asleep in class. It’s also pretty embarrassing to be taking a test and having your stomach growl the whole time.
With the effort in full swing, McCollum said the Table is looking for help from the community to keep the program going.
“Right now, storage is one of our biggest issues,” McCollum said. “Our space here is full, so we’re trying to find ways to expand that. Donations of space would be a major help. Blue Ridge has some space and they’re planning on storing some food there, since it’s a good bit farther away.
“Going down to Sam’s Club is a chore too,” McCollum said. “It’s not too bad of a drive or anything, but two week’s worth of food for 40 students is a lot. It fills my little CRV full. So people with big vans or trucks are something we can always use. We reimburse people for gas and things like that, so it’s really a commitment of time.”
While McCollum admits that 40 students at each school isn’t the ideal number, she said there are plans to expand it not only to more schools, but to more students within the schools currently being served.
“The point right now is to get something started,” McCollum said. “We hope that in the future we’ll be able to get something to all the students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. There’s definitely a need for it within the county.
“If we had enough money and volunteers, we would be able to hit most of the people who really need this service,” McCollum said. “But it’s not necessarily a financial thing. Parents always get stuff from schools asking for money. We just hope people think about us when they’re going grocery shopping and buy an extra can of soup to donate. Anything people can offer will help us. Everyone can make a difference.”
For more information or to contribute to the program, call McCollum at 586-6782.
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