SPOKANE, Wash. – If you know a kid who is living through food insecurity, for the first time ever the Bite2Go (B2G) program is giving food to kids in need all summer long.
It’s the same thing that they do during the school year- but an extended version to cover kids during the summer.
It started a few months ago at a meeting when Second Harvest (SH) mentioned the lack of resources available for kids who are hungry during the summer.
There are federal resources available during the week but over the weekend there’s a gap, where many kids have to find food for themselves.
That’s why SH asked Rick Clark with local nonprofit Giving Back Spokane to help them raise $30,000 to feed 500 kids per weekend during the summer.
Clark immediately offered to triple it to $90k if that meant more kids could get food.
SH agreed and it only took them 3 weeks to raise the money through Clark’s following.
Back in the 80’s Clark was the one going hungry on the weekends, which is partially why he cried while leaving the meeting.
“It really brought me back to when I was only 12-13 years old… I was always trying to spend the night at a friends house over the weekend because I knew that at my home there was no food.” Executive Director of Giving Back Spokane, Rick Clark said.
“As a kid you are supposed to enjoy the weekends, you’re not supposed to sit and wait for school to start on Monday. That’s the worst, but I knew that’s when I’d be able to eat…”
SH and Clark are planning to hand out 18,000 bags of food during the summer. Here’s how it works.
There are two different pickup locations: Shaw middle school and the First Free Methodist church on Courtland Avenue.
Every Friday of the summer starting on June 14th anyone (a kid, family member, neighbor, even a friend) can go to either of these locations anytime from 11a-1p and pick up a weekend’s worth of food for the kid who needs it.
You don’t have to do anything else, it’s as simple as that. You don’t have to show ID and the kid does not have to be there with you. Just show up and tell them how manty kids you are feeding this weekend, and they will give you the bags that you need.
SH will have 750 2-3lb bags at each location for 12 straight weeks of the summer in hopes of handing out 18k by the time school starts back up.
They and Rick Clark are hoping that by allowing anyone to pick up the food, it can protect kids’ dignity.
“Man, if I would have just walked up to a teacher and said my tummy is empty and it hurts, I’m so hungry. I know they would have helped me, but I couldn’t do it, I was so embarrassed…” Rick Clark said.
They want to reiterate that they have already paid for 1500 bags of food per week over the summer. Now they need families in need to pick them up.
It’s also important to mention that there will be no pickup on July 5th, that week they will give out food on the 3rd in hopes of giving them out before people leave town.
