Feeding Our Future
A partnership between The Caring Center and other local community organizations to meet the needs of children facing poverty and food insecurity.
Assisting a family in need starts with helping them stabilize their situation. The first step toward stability is ensuring that they have access to enough food for the entire family. We have initiatives that provide food assistance in a variety of settings- including at home and after school. We also offer tools that can help them make wise use of the resources and food at their disposal.
Kids at the Table (KAT)
Kids At the Table is an on-site feeding program which provides a hot meal to school age children, after school through the school year, at Stokes Elementary School and at the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club (LBGC). At the LBGC, three meals a day are offered through the week during summer break.
KAT is targeted at school age children on the free/reduced lunch program and provides experiences in health and fitness, homework assistance, games, and a nutritional meal.
Lebanon Boys and Girls Club
403 W. Main, Lebanon – 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm, Monday-Friday year-round. Volunteers are needed to serve food and to provide homework assistance.
Stokes Elementary School
1005 Hendricks Drive, Lebanon – 4 pm to 5:30 pm, Tuesday – Thursday during the school year. Volunteers are needed to serve food, to provide homework assistance and to help build literacy skills.
History of Kids at the Table
In August 2009 we held several fundraising events for this program and formed committees to get a kid’s café up and running. On March 8, 2010, in partnership with the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club, the first KAT – Kids at the Table session was held at the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club.
Children Overcoming Poverty to Excel (COPE)
COPE is specifically designed to meet the vital needs which children living in poverty have as part of regular school life such as field trips, tutoring, extracurricular school activities, lunch money and special clothing needs.
Often opportunities from field trips or extracurricular activities are excellent motivators for children to enjoy school and to do well. Many times these important opportunities are beyond the financial reach of families in poverty.
Our goal is to assist these children who have been marginalized due to poverty and allow them to excel in all areas of day-to-day school life. In other words, to COPE.
One of the main areas The Caring Center contributes to this program is by helping students obtain caps and gowns for graduation.
Volunteer with us!
- We need volunteers each month to:
- Help serve food
- Provide homework assistance
- Help build literacy skills
If you’re interested in volunteering for these programs, please contact the facility you wish to be at to learn more.