To the Editor:

The Community Lunch Program for Kids would like to publicly thank Stewart’s Shops for its very generous donation of $500. This donation was made possible by the Stewart’s Shops Holiday Matching Fund, which in part is collected in November and December each year at Stewart’s Shops around the state.

The Community Lunch Program for Kids was created to address the issue of children who attend Norwood-Norfolk Central School and receive free/reduced breakfast and lunch during the school year, but are left without this support when school is not in session.

Our program started last July with 20 families and less than 50 children. At our last distribution in February, we provided 60 families and 160 children lunch and breakfast items to carry them over the February break.

The cost of the program per distribution is approximately $500. This is in addition to the food that is donated by local civic groups, churches and individuals. And as the number of families/children we serve increases, so do our expenses.

So, if you do the math, you can clearly see that this donation from this year’s Stewart’s Shops will have a huge impact on our ability to provide food to our local children when school is not in session.

Thank you, Stewart’s Shops, for your very generous donation to our program. And we really like your ice cream too!

The Community Lunch Program for Kids in the Norwood, Norfolk, Raymondville area