SNOWSHOE , Pa. — The Centre County YMCA and WPSU are partnering up to help give kids in the area a better summer. Happening now — the organizations are giving away free meals and activity bags for kids. Every week day the Centre County YMCA delivers hot meals to kids in every school district within the county including some in Clearfield County. In total they’re able to serve an average of 1,300 kids a day.
When the pandemic began, the YMCA recognized a potential problem of kids going hungry according to the high ratio of free and reduced lunches within the school district, and now that school is out – the number of kids with food insecurities is one in four. The director of the anti- hunger program for the YMCA of Centre county, Mel Curtis says it’s all about the kids…
“I think the most rewarding part is the look on the kids faces, you know knowing you’ve made a difference in their life because you know hunger has no address uh it has no face or anything else so therefore you can’t really tell who is hungry and to walk in and see a kid smile with a snowcone and it’s like ear to ear.”
WPSU partnered with the YMCA, providing free backpacks, filled with activities and supplies for kids.