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Rachad Wilson was wrapping up his first week as principal of Endeavour Elementary when something unusual happened.
At dismissal, Wilson was told there was an issue with one of the buses. He scrambled to the scene.
“There was this young girl who was either in the second or third grade having a serious meltdown,” Wilson recalled via email
. “So I asked her several times, ‘What’s wrong, why are you crying?’ She finally answered and shared that she didn’t want to go home over the weekend because they have no food, and she wouldn’t eat.
“I was stunned.”
Volunteer Nina Coleman packaging weekend backpack meals at The Children’s Hunger Project Melbourne location.
And while other students may not be as vocal, that girl was anything but alone.
In the 2012-13 school year, 96 percent of the students at the Cocoa school participated in the free and reduced-price lunch program, according to The Children’s Hunger Project. Throughout the school district, nearly half of the students participate, said Bob Barnes, executive director and co-founder of the organization.
That’s why the nonprofit — which serves 1,049 children a week in 27 schools — was formed, Barnes says.
“It’s disgusting that a charity like ours even has to exist, when you put it in its proper perspective,” said Barnes.
Organizers hope to alleviate childhood hunger and malnutrition in elementary school children in Brevard with food packages.
READ MORE AT Florida Today.com
