by Curtis Baker
Some years ago Richard Edwards had the dream of bringing the Kids Café to Slaton to help provide a safe place for kids to stay after school and to receive a hot meal. After much hard work and many volunteer hours, the Kids Café did just that, serving meals from the Earl Powell Center in Slaton for a number of years. Unfortunately, several years ago, that program had to be put on hold. But still the dream persisted to be able to feed children in Slaton who may be in need of an afternoon meal. This last Monday evening, that dream was realized again. The Kid’s Café has reopened in Slaton.
In this new season of the Kids Café we see a different location, along with a whole new stream of volunteers providing this service to our children at Cathleen Thomas Elementary School. The after school program runs there until 6:00pm, and for those children who stay past 5:00, they are allowed to partake in a hot meal provided by the South Plains Food Bank. At this point the meal is only provided on Monday afternoon, but may expand to two or three days sometime in the future.
A special thank you to all in Slaton who have agreed to volunteer for this special program. Pictured above for the initial launch are our visionary founder Lynette Swanner, our current leaders, Curtis Baker, Richard Edwards, and Staci Denton, along with a number of volunteers from First Methodist Church in Slaton: Jo Gay, Ann Haire, and Jane Williamson. If you would like to help participate in this program, please email or call Curtis Baker at 441-0237 (curtisbaker@hotmail.com)
