Ben Edquist and Chelsea Helm
What is your mission? Launched in 2006, Kids’ Meals’ mission is to end childhood hunger in Houston by delivering free, healthy meals year-round to the doorsteps of Houston’s hungriest preschool-aged children and through collaboration, provide their families with resources to end the cycle of poverty.
Why did you launch the organization? More than 80,000 preschool-aged children in Houston are going to bed hungry, living in food deserts, and living food insecure. Children who are ages 5 and under suffer most from lack of nutrition because their brains and bodies are in the most formative years and are not yet old enough to receive free meals through the school system. In response, the Kids’ Meals program launched to help end childhood hunger in our city.
What are you most proud of? Since its inception, Kids’ Meals has prepared and delivered more than 15.3 million free meals to food-insecure children in 56 zip codes in Harris and Montgomery Counties. What started as a small grassroots organization, delivering a few hundred meals per day, now delivers lunch to more than 9,000 preschool-aged children each weekday. In 2024, we are projected to deliver more than 2.7 million free, healthy meals. By ensuring children have basic daily nutrition, we are changing not only their mealtimes but their entire lifetimes.
What’s been your impact in the community? Kids’ Meals is a first responder to impoverished children. In addition to nutritious daily meals, we deliver weekly grocery bags of fresh produce and non-perishable staples. We leverage our daily access to connect families with vital wrap-around service information such as early childhood education, adult and child literacy, medical/dental care, ESL classes, financial planning, mental health, and job skills training. Our average all-in cost per meal delivered is only $2.
Tell us about your big event. On Friday, November 8, 2024, at the Marriott Marquis Houston, the 16th Annual Harvest Luncheon will bring together over 1,400 attendees from corporations, foundations, and Houstonians interested in delivering hope to the future of our great city by investing in the next generation. Our luncheon offers a VIP experience, Mimosas & Market, a curated group of incredible vendors offering a collection of unique items to kick off your holiday shopping, and a spectacular silent auction crowned by an outstanding program. Sponsorships and tickets are on our website.
How many employees and volunteers work with your organization? More than forty employees work at Kids’ Meals with most staff delivering direct program services to children. Kids’ Meals employees are committed and passionate about their work. In fact, our drivers are our “Hope Providers” because Kids’ Meals provides so much more than just a meal, they provide hope daily. In addition, our incredible 25,000 annual volunteers are a force to be reckoned with. They give over 60,000 hours each year to make sandwiches and pack lunches for the children in our city.
What are your major challenges? In 2008, Feeding America reported that Harris County had the highest percentage of children living with food insecurity among highly populated counties nationwide. More recent studies from Children at Risk and Northwestern University indicate the pandemic created a long-term economic impact that will affect low-income families for years. With an estimated 80,000 children under six facing food insecurity in Houston, Kids Meals’ primary goal is to serve 26,000 of them by 2031 and to continue building the infrastructure to keep growing. To accomplish this goal, we need Houstonians to partner with us as volunteers and donors to build a better city for our children and families.
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Fall Philanthropy Report: Be An Angel Improves Quality of Life for Children with Special Needs
Oct. 8, 2024
What year was your organization launched? 1986 by a small group of committee community members that believed special needs children were not receiving basic life services.
What is your mission? It is our mission to improve the quality of life for children withs special needs by providing adaptive equipment, hearing devices, select services, and support programs.
Why did you launch the organization? We believe that children are the heart and soul of humanity, that they represent all that is good within us, and that we can help children with special needs experience life at their fullest potential.
What are you most proud of? We have immediate results for the children needing most any kind of medical adaptive equipment. No long waiting periods. Children and their families who have been waiting between 10-12 years for respite services alone from governmental services receive respite care within 30 days or less. All with a very small administrative staff and hundreds of volunteers. Additionally, we have opened offices in DFW and San Antonio.
What’s been your impact in the community? Be An Angel has provided adaptive equipment, respite care and other select services to over 9900 special needs children from birth to age 22 in just this past year alone. These children generally come from limited to low-income families.
Tell us about your big event. We are proud of the many events hosted by Be An Angel each year. Every February we host Purse Bingo with over 600 participants winning luxury end purses and prizes. Dan Pastorini hosts his Celebrity Golf Tournament which has raised more than 2 million dollars in the past years he has supported these children. Additionally, our Spring Gala, with “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” theme raises well over $700,000 per year.
How many employees and volunteers work with your organization? We currently have 5 employees in Houston, and two in DFW and San Antonio. We are thankful for over 600 volunteers assisting us each year.
What are your major challenges? Sharing our story making families know we are here to help them.
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