A company that provides the internet in the Metroplex is helping serve up food in Central Texas.
NextLink donated almost 700 pounds of food to McLennan County Pack of Hope Tuesday.
The McLennan County Pack of Hope Secretary Clifford Reece said they put together about 270 bags per week during the summer and 1,100 per week during the school year for 18 school districts in McLennan County.
Reece said the big donation really helps with that huge undertaking.
"One hundred sixty-five pounds will feed a kid for an entire school year. So if you take that times roughly five, 700 pounds will provide roughly five children a nutritious bag of food every weekend for the entire school year," Reece said.
He said that definitely helps in the fight against hunger and the consequences of it.
"Studies have shown that if you don't have sustained nutrition, then you're going to come back to school on Monday and you're going to have discipline problems, you're going to not be able to pay attention, you're more interested in what am I going to do to get food rather than studying," Reece said.
Reece said volunteers from McLennan County Pack of Hope will sit down with representatives from NextLink to figure out how to make this a long-term initiative and partnership.
"So as part of this donation today and part of coming down to us was them making a commitment and making this a long-term initiative for them. So our next goal with them is to sit down with them and see what we can do to partner to make this some kind of sustainable opportunity for them," Reece said.
Reece said NextLink reached out to McLennan County Pack of Hope asking how the company could help. If more companies and organizations do that, he said they can help feed more of the estimated 29,000 kids in McLennan County who live at, or below, the poverty line.
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