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Thursday, June 22, 2006
Homeless kids can eat healthfully, and you can help
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s summertime. School’s out. There’s no cafeteria lunch or breakfast to be had for the nearly 2,000 homeless children in Gwinnett.
For those who live in extended-stay motels, there are vending machines — filled with candy, chips and colas.
Little fruit, if any.
Maybe that’s why fresh fruit is the first item kids take out of their lunches once Davida Baker delivers them. It’s usually the first thing they eat, too.
“It tells me that they are craving nutrition,” Baker told me.
On Wednesday, I accompanied her to Intown Suites off Indian Trail Lilburn Road. It’s home for a dozen or so school-age kids who, under federal law, are categorized as homeless.
Campus Church of Christ, at Greater Atlanta Christian School in Lilburn, helps fill the void. The church provides free lunches as part of Project Kids Eat. The program isn’t some ruse to proselytize or pad church rolls. A Scripture that’s placed in each sack lunch is as preachy as it gets.
To receive a meal, just sign up in the motel office. There’re no strings or commitments. Maybe one request.
“You have to pay me,” Baker told Brianna Parker, a pretty 8-year-old who popped into the Intown Suites office with her mother and sister.
Brianna, smiling, gave Baker a hug.
The motel clerk showed us a letter Brianna had written.
“It’s pretty cool how you guys don’t give the same thing for lunch, but I wouldn’t care if it was the same thing,” she wrote. “I still appreciate it.” So does her mother, Terri O’Grady.
“It’s needed,” she said.
Kids Eat stems from Baker’s benevolence. The Tucker woman’s son, Andrew, is a graduate of Greater Atlanta Christian School. One year while a student, he volunteered at the Norcross Cooperative Ministry.
Davida Baker saw families struggling to put food on the table. She saw that school lunches, in many cases, were the only square meals consumed by many children.
So she started delivering meals here and there, depending on donations from friends and others to cover costs. Last year, her church took over the operation, which now costs about $17,000 to operate. This summer, 150 children will receive lunches. The church also hosts Christmas and Easter dinners for the needy.
Baker deflects any credit. She simply wants other churches to pick up the mantle.
If you don’t believe there’s a need, drop by an extended-stay motel and talk to the staff.
You may want to pack some fruit to take along.
For more information about Project Kids Eat, call Baker at 770-493-1723.
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