WILKES-BARRE — The mission statement on the Dinners for Kids website says it all:
“Dinners for Kids’ mission is to fight childhood hunger year-round by providing daily prepared nutritious dinners and fresh fruit to children in need in our community.”
Founded by Edna and David Tevet, former owners of Ollie’s Restaurant in Edwardsville, and now continued by current owner Matt Borwick, with help from his father, Bob Borwick, the nationally acclaimed program provides at-risk children freshly prepared, kid-approved nutritious and balanced dinners in microwave-safe containers, accompanied by fresh fruit.
The Borwicks — and the Tevets before them — have shared the goal to see that no child goes to bed hungry and that they will then produce better in school.
Dinners for Kids is a non-profit organization, and it has sought to deliver healthy meals to underprivileged and at-risk kids multiple times a week since 2011.
This amazing program is driven by strong leadership and a devoted group of volunteers who see that the above-mentioned mission is perpetuated.
My friend, Tracey Shemo, dedicates much of her time to the Dinners for Kids programs. She posted this on her Facebook page this week:
”Behind every delivery is a team that cares. From the kitchen to the packing tables to the drivers on the road, it takes many hands to keep Dinners for Kids moving forward. That shared effort is what allows us to serve more than 250 children across our region each week.”
Shemo, who began by packing meals for Dinners for Kids five years ago, now delivers meals and sits on the Board of Directors. She is dedicated because she knows the good the program does and how important it is to sustain.
In 2015, Ollie’s Restaurant and the Dinners for Kids program was one of four restaurants nationally to receive the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s 2015 Restaurant Neighbor award, that celebrates the outstanding charitable service performed by restaurant operators.
When Edna and David Tevet became aware of the magnitude of childhood hunger in our backyard in 2011, they took action — they decided to establish the Dinners For Kids program.
The Tevets learned that childhood hunger has an adverse effect on children’s physical and mental health, their behavior, and their school performance. After talking to several teachers and human services officials, it was evident that many at-risk children only received decent daily meals through subsidized at-school lunches.
Unfortunately, the Tevets learned that many of these children were going to sleep every night hungry.
This gave light to the idea of Dinners For Kids. Each healthy dinner is packaged in a microwave-safe container and is accompanied by fresh fruit. So the Dinners For Kids program was born and volunteers started delivering six meals per week, year-round, directly to the children’s homes.
Today, the program serves over 250 at-risk children in three school districts — Wilkes Barre Area, the Wyoming Valley West, and Dallas, totaling more than 80,000 meals per year.
So if you want to be part of something meaningful, whether you donate your time or money, do it and help keep this work going strong. You can learn more at dinners4kids.org.
And it’s refreshing to see that the Borwicks have kept the program going and growing.
“We’ve signed up many additional kids and we’re still growing,” they said. “The need for nutritious meals for children in need is dramatic,” they said in a Times Leader story. “There are more than 12,000 children in Luzerne County with food insecurity.”
Dinners for Kids program representatives visit area schools and meet with administrators and teachers to identify the children in need, and then the families are interviewed. Volunteers deliver the meals to the homes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays — delivering two meals each time.
“We are told that the children in the Dinners for Kids program do better in class and are more aware,” the Borwicks said. “And they see a positive difference in their performance.”
There are many at-risk children whose only decent daily meals are school lunches, and the same children receive no decent meal at all when school is out, which is about half the days of the year.
The children are referred to the program by the school’s guidance counselors, Head Start, and Children & Youth case workers.
What is extremely noteworthy is the significant impact of the program, which is volunteer-based, with no paid staff, no facility costs, zero overhead.
Donations can be sent to Dinners For Kids, 84 S. Wyoming Ave., Edwardsville, PA 18704.
Dinners for Kids is a remarkable program, and all involved deserve a sincere thank you for all they do.
And for continuing to do it.