SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Food Bank is a crucial resource for thousands of families across our community, and the summer months are some of the busiest.
Right now, the food bank is helping more than 100 people each and every week. And a large portion of that is children.
“We see people in need everywhere. And one way that you can always help is to help people have food,” Marc Bayer said.
Bayer and his team of more than 30 volunteers started their Monday by cooking, filling and packing meals.
“The need is the greatest for kids. One in four children in Southwest Texas face food insecurity. And so, during the school year, we got a lot going on to get them their free and reduced breakfast and lunches. But once summertime hits, those kids are out of school and they’re not getting those meals,” Mary de Marigny, director of philanthropy at the San Antonio Food Bank said.
Volunteers are filling the Mays Family Culinary Center doing what they can to help.
“We have three shifts going every day. So you’re thinking over 10,000 meals a day, just in this kitchen to get out to kids,” de Marigny said.
And it’s not just the thousands of meals that local kids will receive.
“The meals that we’re giving to children is a mixture of prepared meals, fresh groceries and produce snacks,” de Marigny said.
The Food Bank’s goal is to make 20 million meals this summer. They are about half way there and they are asking for people to step up and help out.
“I just think it’s got to help the kids. They’re our most valuable asset,” de Marigny said.
As for Bayer and his team, this is an international effort.
“We want to give back to the community. We even brought in one of our team members from Singapore and someone from Mexico to help out today,” Bayer said.