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DALLAS TWP. — Over 100 people turned out Wednesday night in support of a local charity that focuses on battling childhood hunger by providing healthy meals.
Dinners for Kids held its eighth annual dinner at Insalaco Hall at Misericordia University.
“I somehow became aware of childhood hunger about a year before my wife Edna and I started the program in 2011,” said Dinners for Kids founder David Tevet. “A lot of people think that it happens in Third World countries. It’s a big issue in the United States. These kids might be eating bags of chips or crackers as their dinner. Some won’t have anything.”
Tevet, the former owner of Ollie’s Restaurant in Edwardsville, researched everything he could about childhood hunger before founding Dinners for Kids.
“I consider the definition of childhood hunger as a child that goes to sleep on an empty stomach,” Tevet noted. “I realized the best solution was to provide these kids with healthy food they could prepare in a microwavable container along with fresh fruit.”
The volunteer-based charity provides healthy foods to over 160 children in the Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley West districts while Misericordia and Metz Culinary handle children in the Dallas School District.
“We do it for $2.50 a meal,” Tevet mentioned. “We do it at cost. We don’t make any money on it.”
Tevet’s group is adding 40 to 50 kids from the Heights Murray Elementary School on South Sherman Street.
“It’s an extremely important program,” said Heights principal Melissa Myers. “There is such a great need in general in our county. We have many students and families that express support for food being sent home or coming to our building to get some extra food.”
Myers noted that 97 percent of her building’s population cites an economic disadvantage and that the program has been a success with at-risk kids in the Daniel J. Flood Elementary on North Washington Street.
Children are referred by school guidance counselors, Head Start and Children & Youth case workers.
Part of the festivities included honoring the Metz family of Metz Culinary Management, a key partner for the charity.
“Being in the food service business, it’s important for us to be able to take care of people who are unable to do so,” said Maureen Metz, who oversees the marketing, merchandising, purchasing and culinary initiatives for the Metz organization. “Food and security is such a huge issue these days that we felt it was the most important charity we could give back to.”
“We are honored to give back to the community we live in,” she added. “We are thrilled and honored to be given this award and be associated with David (Tevet) and his family.”
Jeffrey C. Metz, president and CEO of Metz Culinary, expressed his gratitude to Dinners for Kids.
“Growing up in the business, our father has always showed us that it’s important to give back in the communities that we work and live in,” he said. “But it’s really about David and Edna and their commitment and vision for starting this charity and seeing it through today. We are happy to be a small piece of their success and will continue to support them.”