“Most of the time the only people that come through are people that grew up here and moved out,” Shaina says. “There’s not a lot of travel, like tourism or anything.”
Shaina’s tends to gaze off into the distance meditatively when she talks about her hometown. You can tell she’s always thinking about ways she can help. She lives in Sneedville, a tiny town in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. It’s easy to miss. There are no major highways nearby. Little industry remains in a place that was once home to furniture factories and tobacco farming. Today, only a few thousand people live in this remote valley. Jobs are scarce. Money is tight. Many families struggle. Shaina is part of a team organized by No Kid Hungry that is trying to help.
Shaina brings Chloe a healthy breakfast and lunch.
“During the school year, the kids in the school system here get breakfast and lunch at school, for free,” Shaina explains. “And then all of a sudden summer comes, kids are at home, and their families don’t have the money to stretch their food budget any further. Summer is very tough on the families.”
In many cities and suburbs, the solution to this problem of summer hunger is a summer meals program. Summer meals sites are set up at community centers like parks, apartment complexes, schools and rec centers to feed kids. But these programs don’t work in isolated rural areas hit hard by poverty.
That’s why No Kid Hungry tested a pilot program with help from Shaina and her team last summer. We know Meals on Wheels style food delivery programs work for feeding the elderly. Why not do the same thing for hungry kids in remote rural places?
We worked with our local partner, Second Harvest Foodbank of Northeast Tennessee, and a local church group to arrange a delivery system that drops off summer meals for kids either at their homes, or at drop-off points where families can pick-up the food and take it home.
“It’s 20 minutes for me to go into town. I just would not be able to do that because of the cost of gas,” Louise says. She’s raising her grandkids, and doesn’t have the extra money to cover the gas it would take to get her into town to take the kids to a summer meals sites. Instead, she sometimes skips meals so her grandkids Noah and Chloe can eat.
Louise and her grandson Noah
In some cases, families don’t even have cars. Sue never expected to be a mom for a second time. When her daughter’s life crumbled under the weight of addiction, it forever changed Sue’s life too. Her one-bedroom trailer isn’t meant for three people, but Sue and her two grandchildren make do. Patrick and Scarlett share a bed in the bedroom, Sue sleeps on a recliner. They live about 5 miles from the town’s only grocery store and don’t have a car. They’ve never been to a summer meals site because they have no way of getting there.
“I can’t always get to the store when I want,” Sue shares. “I don’t have a car. I have to hire somebody to take me. It costs me either five or ten dollars if I go to the grocery store for gas.” She also often skips meals to feed her kids. “If there’s enough food for two people, I feed them and eat something else. I’ll live on peanut butter. I don’t care. I’m old, I don’t eat much anyway.”
Sue, Patrick and Scarlett outside of their home
Shaina’s daily four-hour delivery route took her all over this valley — up mountains, down dirt roads that are nearly impassable during heavy rains — delivering hope to families that have never accessed summer meals before. No Kid Hungry’s work in Sneedville is one of the many ways we’re feeding kids. To learn more about how we’re ending childhood hunger, visit NoKidHungry.org today.
Your gift can help us reach more kids like the children in Sneedville. Please make a donation to No Kid Hungry.
