RICHMOND, Va. — Stacy Huthinson has spent 11 years at Feed More with a single mission: feeding hungry people. Today, that mission takes her to some of the most vulnerable.
"It's just joy, joy, you know. I love what I do. I've always, always loved helping kids," Huthinson said.
Pallets of food and meals at Feed More are numbered and headed all over Central Virginia. It takes a team of dedicated workers and volunteers to get each delivery run ready. Cold items load onto the refrigerated side of the truck, while fresh meals go on the other side, kept warm until they are delivered.
Huthinson typically loads the delivery truck around 11 a.m., arriving at the nonprofit Oakland Connect at around 1:30 p.m.
Watch: Richmond students with disabilities deliver Meals on Wheels
With 1 in 6 kids in Central Virginia struggling with hunger, Feed More's Kids Cafe program provides children with meals made from scratch in its community kitchen, along with healthy snacks. The program supplies the nutritional component to after-school programs like Oakland Connect, which mentor and tutor children in the area.
To receive meals, a site must be located in a school zone where free and reduced meal eligibility exceeds 50% and must be a licensed nonprofit.
Cheryl Brown, a program aid at Oakland Connect, said the need is often invisible.
"We don't know if they're eating at home. It might be where they're only getting one or two meals. We don't know that, so we just welcome them all in," Brown said.
Watch: Why this retired IT specialist volunteers at Feed More to feed hungry kids
Huthinson said the deliveries make a real difference for families.
"There's kids that go home like these sites we go to, they don't have a meal when they get home," Huthinson said. "And this is their meal and it makes the parents feel good that at least they've had a hot meal for the night and they can go to bed and get up the next morning."
CBS 6 along with the Scripps Howard Fund and Puritan Cleaners will match the first 40,000 meals raised on May 7 ONLY. To donate click the image below.
The 100K Meals campaign runs through May 9
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