ORLANDO, Fla. – Summer break is here, and as school cafeterias shut down, some families in Central Florida are facing a new challenge: ensuring their kids have enough food to eat.
To assist with this issue, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida are receiving a helping hand thanks to a generous $20,000 donation from the Winn-Dixie Gives Foundation.
Of this donation, $10,000 has been allocated for food, which includes lunch and snack items. These food items are being packed into take-home meals for kids who depend on free and reduced-cost lunches during the school term. The other $10,000 will be utilized to fund club programs, ensuring meals, memberships, and enriching activities are available all through the summer.
“It’s a big deal,” said Jamie Merrill, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. “I want my own kids to grow up healthy and happy. Every single parent, guardian, friend or people that love children want them to grow up happy and healthy and well nourished. Some people just don’t have the means to be able to do it. And that’s where we step in and the amazing partners that we have.”
Winn-Dixie associates volunteered Tuesday at the Orlando club’s Bradley-Otis Family Branch, helping unload food donations, packing nutritious lunch boxes and snack packs, and engage with local children.
The event was one of five similar donations across the Southeast, part of the grocer’s $100,000 commitment to fight food insecurity and “fund the fun” for local youth this summer.
The Winn-Dixie Gives Foundation is the charitable arm of Winn-Dixie, focusing on hunger relief, support for military families, disaster response and promoting inclusion and equity. The foundation aims to nourish and enrich communities across the Southeast, creating lasting, positive change.
For families facing a summer without school meals, Merrill says the support couldn’t come at a better time.
“Some people just don’t have the means to be able to do it. And that’s where we step in—and the amazing partners that we have,” Merrill said.
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