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'Filling The Gap' Helps Provide Meals To Children In Need

Carla Eckels

Filling the Gap Lunches for Kids program is underway in Wichita. It's an effort by Partners for Wichita to feed children during Spring Break. Volunteers distribute nearly 5,000 meals at 16 locations. KMUW’s Carla Eckels reports…

Credit Carla Eckels
Brown Bag Lunches

So far this week, nearly 100 children-a-day have gone through the line at Wichita’s Evergreen Park. Erika Gonzalez brought her daughter and sons to pick up brown bag lunches plus oranges and bananas.

"The kids get a nutritious meal and they get something with prime energy, and it helps a lot, especially when all of the children are at home. There’s nothing to eat at home," Gonzalez says.

Food donations come from the Kansas Food Bank and community donors. Danielle Ramirez with Partners for Wichita says the program serves an important need.

"We know that one in four youth in Kansas are food insecure," Ramirez says. "This is a really important time for us to come together to make sure that kids are not going hungry."

Credit Carla Eckels

Danielle Ramirez says they are still seeking donations of snack and fruit items including:

  • Cuties Oranges (Clementines)
  • Bananas
  • Peanut butter crackers (individually packaged)
  • Cheese crackers (individually packaged)

On Friday, kids will be given double the amount of food for the weekend.
The Medical Service Bureau will also be offering free vision screenings at the following Filling the Gap locations:

  • Thursday, March 19 -Tabernacle COGIC (1502 E. 17th St. N.)
  • Friday, March 20 - Cross Point Church (1515 E. Harry)

For more information about the Filling the Gap Program and the 16 sites, scroll through the flyer below:

Carla Eckels is Director of Organizational Culture at KMUW. She produces and hosts the R&B and gospel show Soulsations and brings stories of race and culture to The Range with the monthly segment In the Mix. Carla was inducted into The Kansas African American Museum's Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2020 for her work in broadcast/journalism.