A young girl picks up her Food First bag to enjoy during the weekend.
Our Food FirstTM campaign to help fight hunger in Texas expanded to West Texas last week with the launch of our summer food bags for kids in Odessa.
In partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Odessa and West Texas Food Bank, we helped distribute more than 150 bags full of nutritional and easy-to-open food for the kids to take home for the weekend.
“One in four kids in Texas doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from,” said Lee Pipkin, interim executive director of the West Texas Food Bank.
The First Choice Power Food First bags will help provide as many as five meals.
The Boys & Girls Club and West Texas Food Bank provide meals for the kids during the week, but there is a gap Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
During the school year many food banks have “backpack” programs.
But not during the summer.
The Food First program is the first of its kind, Pipkin said.
This summer, more than 15,000 meals will be provided by First Choice Power Food First bags, thanks to distribution from the Boys & Girls Club and purchasing power and volunteer support at the West Texas Food Bank.
Read more about the launch on the CBS affiliate in Odessa and in the Odessa American newspaper.
Pingback: Food First Update: Summer 2010 « THE CURRENT by First Choice Power