Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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| To encourage family dinner time |
Shown checking the “Dinner in a Bag” sacks given out Sunday at Grace Network are (from left) Shameka Hylton of CHILL; Francia Brown of Grace; Paula Bowen of HEY!; and Cameron Moore of CHILL. The groups gave out 225 bags, each with the ingredients for a spaghetti dinner, to encourage families to eat together today, which is “Family Day.” (Bulletin photo) |
Monday, September 28, 2009
By GINNY WRAY - Bulletin Staff Writer
More than 200 local families will be able to have dinner together tonight, thanks to an effort by local youth, adults and organizations.
On Sunday, CHILL (Communities Helping Improve Local Lives), HEY! (Helping Empower Youth) and Grace Network members and volunteers filled 225 shopping bags with the ingredients for a family dinner, from start to finish.
Included were cans of vegetables, spaghetti sauce and fruit; dry spaghetti; dinner rolls; lettuce; dressing; and cookie mixes.
The bags were distributed to needy families of students from the three area middle schools and members of the Sanville Elementary School Boys & Girls Club.
“It’s important to have dinner with your family,” said Jenniffer Jamison, executive director of Grace Network.
That is the goal of today’s Family Day, which is a national movement that encourages families to eat together. Research has found that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.
Katie Connelly, a prevention community organizer for Piedmont Community Services who works with CHILL and HEY!, said CHILL members were discussing the day and wondered how families in need could afford to have dinner together.
“How do they have celebrate Family Day if they don’t have food,” the youth asked, according to Connelly.
She approached Grace Network, which provides food for needy area residents, among other assistance, and it sent out appeals for funds to the 80 churches that support the network.
Individual church members responded to the appeal, and Rich Acres Christian Church gave an especially large donation, Jamison said. In all, about $2,200 was donated for the food, she said.
“The churches’ response was overwhelming,” Jamison said.
Initially, organizers hoped to raise enough money to provide 100 bags of food, but the money collected allowed them to increase the number to 225 and add produce, she said.
One hundred and fifty recipients were identified by the middle schools, and CHILL members chose the 75 members of the Sanville Boys & Girls Club to get the dinners.
On Sunday afternoon, the CHILL and HEY! members gathered at the GRACE offices on Commonwealth Boulevard to put the food in the brown shopping bags and distribute the bags to the designated families.
Connelly praised the project and the collaboration that made it possible.
“The youth usually come up with an idea and it gets quashed,” she said. But with the help of Grace and others, “they made it happen.”
This was the first time such a project has been held, but it could be repeated in the future, possibly on a larger scale, Connelly said. |
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