Lunch Box Connection Bridges Hunger Gap for Cabot Kids

When his order comes up, 80-year-old Maurice Shirley's no longer left worrying about what's for lunch.

"My wife and I are old folks, and we're rearing two little great-grandaughters," he said. "We raised six kids years ago with a lot more ease than trying to rear just these two girls."

His girls usually eat at school, but during the winter break The Lunch Box Connection has been helping out.

In its first year, volunteers come into the Westside Elementary Cafeteria and serve up lunches to kids who rely on meals at school to get by and offer relief to families that would be put in a bind financially for the costs of additional meals during the break.

"Oh, it has helped us so much it's a godsend," Shirley said. "It's tough on the old folks with fixed incomes."

"Car payments, house payments, that can get tough when you start adding in five extra meals each day for a parent," Susan Hedin said.

Hedin is what you would call the manager of what began as a one-woman operation.

"I was just thinking about all the kids that get hungry and they don't have nothing, and I had to do something," she said.

So, she obtained permission from the Cabot School District to use its cafeteria, and garnered donations from over three dozen local businesses to provide items from bags to the bulk of food.

"We've been helping feed those who need help by putting cookies in bags, chips in bags ," Hunter Williams said.

Williams among some 50 local kids who helped out in the role of kitchen staff for the three-week program.

"I feel I can help other people, and not just these people," Camden Williams agreed.

At 930 meals and smiles served, Hedin has essentially met her mission.

"I just wanted to feed the kids. And I did that. I made a difference," she said. "If I touch one person's life that's all that matters."

With plans to keep packing lunches during Spring Break, Hedin might have the chance to keep making a difference for folks like Maurice Shirley.

"Unless the Lord blesses me from other some other direction -- I'll sure be here," he laughed.