The coronavirus pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on families throughout the country. In Tennessee, school closures mean that the millions of kids who rely on school meals are at risk for going without the food they’ve depended on during the school year.
When their communities needed them more than ever, schools, food banks, pantries and community organizations all across the state stepped up in incredible ways. Because of them, kids throughout Tennessee have remained nourished during the crisis.
These frontline hunger heroes – school nutrition and transportation professionals, community leaders, administrators, teachers, and volunteers – have done everything they can to ensure that kids continue to have access to meals. They’ve worked tirelessly, often for longer shifts and without days off. They’ve also found creative ways to get meals to kids, distributing weekly bags of fresh produce, providing curb-side meal pick-up and even hopping on school buses to deliver meals directly to kids’ homes. These hunger heroes have shown tremendous dedication over the past weeks, all while juggling mounting stress and uncertainty. Take a look at some of our hunger heroes:
YMCA of Memphis
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The Y’s mission is to serve children and families by adapting to meet the needs of the communities they serve. When the COVID-19 crisis first began, it was the vision of the local school leadership at Shelby County Schools to provide meals to children who would go without while schools were closed. With this vision, the YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South, alongside many partner organizations, pivoted operations to meet the needs of children and has been able to serve over 300,000 meals in just over 2 months. With ongoing support from donors and other organizations, they served over 2.6 million meals to children this summer.
Etowah City School
![Etowah](https://state.nokidhungry.org/tennessee/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2020/05/Etowah-225x300.jpg)
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Etowah City School emergency feeding continues to grow. They distribute between 485- 530 meal bags per serving day. Each bag contains three breakfast meals, and three lunch meals. The meals consist of sandwiches, grab and go items, as well as from scratch meals. Included are fresh fruits and vegetables they can obtain them. They distribute the meals along with school work via a drive thru service.
We’re so grateful to all of the amazing people who are hard at work finding new and innovative ways to feed hungry kids while schools are closed. Thank you for everything you do! #ThankAHungerHero
Since the pandemic began, No Kid Hungry Tennessee has provided $195,00 in emergency grants to support the work our hunger heroes are doing across the state. This month, we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Throughout May, we’ll be celebrating and lifting up the amazing work that’s been happening across the state by:
- Sharing stories all month long on our social media @NoKidHungryTN
- Highlighting the work of partners, grantees and folks on the ground
JOIN US
We know you have hunger heroes in your community you want to thank too. You can:
- Celebrate your local hunger heroes on social media. To make posting as easy as possible, our team put together this toolkit. Be sure to include #ThankAHungerHero and tag us so we can lift up what you’re sharing!
- On Tuesday, May 27, No Kid Hungry and our state campaigns are coming together for a moment of gratitude. We’ll be thanking hunger heroes all across the country. You can join in by engaging when we thank heroes from Tennessee. We’ll be posting across No Kid Hungry’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook leading up to the big day, so be sure to follow along.
No Kid Hungry Tennessee couldn’t be more grateful for each and every one of these individuals and organizations and for all of the hunger heroes on the front lines. Let’s come together to shower them with much-deserved gratitude and appreciation