With the end of the NISD’s Summer Feeding program, what’ll the kids who depend on it do for the nearly month until school’s back open?
Well there’s Anderson’s Feed + Seed, begun by Melissa Darst of Mission Reclaimed. And thanks to a brand new partnership of the Brazos Valley Food Bank with the Houston Food Bank there are many others, even here in Navasota.
Ben Zimmer is the new program coordinator of the New Kids Café. He says that as soon as he came on, discussions began with the USDA’s Rural Development folks, who turned us on to Northwood as a rural development site, and from there we went to Magnolia Plaza, so we took them both on.
Zimmer estimates there’s around 70 kids in Grimes County who regularly benefit from the breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack program, though different sites have different schedules.
He says Melissa’s doing Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; Northwood is doing Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and Magnolia Plaza is doing Monday through Friday.
Zimmer tells Navasota News there are several ways to find the feeding site nearest you. You can visit bvfb.org/kids-cafe, or you can text “foodtx” to 877877 and enter your zip code, or you can always call 211