On Tuesday, 04/27/2021, Laran Cone, Directory of Montgomery County Route Expansion, spoke to the members of the Magnolia Rotary Club about her organization, "Kids Meals". Pictured above from left to right are Hope Moye, President of the Magnolia Rotary Club and Laran Cone.
Laran Cone told everyone that the "Kids Meals" non-profit organization was started in 2006 and since that time, the organization has been making and delivering free, healthy meals directly to the homes of hungry children. In fact, since inception they have given more than 8 million free meals to needy children in 42 Houston area zip codes. As a result of their success, Laran wanted to extend their program into Montgomery County so in January 2020 with just 2,000 lunches they did just that. When Covid-19 happened, that number quickly rose to over 7,000 lunches for needy kids and families.
Laran explained that although all schools distribute free breakfast and lunches to kids who come to school, many people do not have a means to get to school or they can not leave small children at home while going to school to pick up meals. This is where her organization comes in to make sure they get daily lunches and family grocery deliveries. They get money for the food from donations and partnering with large chain grocery stores to purchase food at reduced prices. Kids Meals also partners with organizations like SOS who help get food delivered to needy individuals. Each family or individual needs to fill out an application in order to receive food and groceries. The applications can be picked up at their office or most S.O.S. centers in our area as well as school counselors and the delivery drivers.
Laran then showed 4 short animated videos explaining why the need for their organization exists, the types of food that are delivered, the problems that affect kids who do not get daily meals and the amount of good Kids Meals has done to date including that Kids is the only program of its kind in our area and that over 7.2 million meals have been delivered to date. The organization also has a number of volunteers to keep the flow of food going as well as provide hand decorated bags that are decorated by many elderly citizens who have nothing but time on their hands.
Laran explained that the ongoing hope of the organization is to break the poverty cycle by not only keeping kids fed, but to also deliver books and provide classes for those who can not read so that they can learn to read and improve their chances of succeeding.
For more information about Kids Meals or way to help or get involved, go to: https://kidsmealsinc.org/
