The Buckner Family Hope Center at Aldine celebrated its partnership with the Houston Food Bank with the Summer Kickoff Party on June 7 at the Houston Food Bank. It’s a partnership, Hope Center leaders say, ensures children in the Hope Center’s programs will have healthy meals both during the school year and through the summer.

“Without this partnership, we wouldn’t be able to feed the children every day,” said Buckner Development team member Adam McKinney. “And for many of our children, this is their only access to dinner during the school year. There is such a great need in the Aldine community for this program.”

Shonice Reed, children’s program supervisor for the Hope Center, agreed that the partnership is a necessity to provide for the children served by the Buckner ministry, which recently celebrated its 27th anniversary serving the area near the intersection of Aldine Mail Route and Hwy. 69.

“Through the partnership with Houston Food Bank, the largest food bank in the country, we are able to serve our children a ‘Kids Café’ dinner every day during the school year and a breakfast and lunch in the summer," Reed said. "The Houston Food Bank has identified organizations like ours to see that children don’t go home hungry … and the sustainability factor for us is huge.” 

The Hope Center was recently featured in a segment of the Houston Food Bank’s video, “Kids Café 2017: Hunger Knows No Zip Code." To learn more about the program, view the video above. The Buckner segment begins at 1:47.

The Hope Center plans to serve 60 children and 25 teens this summer. In 2016, the Food Bank served 3,564 meals during summer programs at the Hope Center and 8,323 total meals between June 2016 and February 2017. The Hope Center serves children mainly from low-income families in an area that encompasses 12 schools and seven low-income apartment complexes.

For ways you can help the Buckner Family Hope Center at Aldine, contact Adam McKinney at 281-455-5029 or at amckinney@buckner.org.