WESTOVER – Food for thought. For sure.
After a few rounds of preparing and hosting all those dinners for all those Fellowship of Christian Athletes from high school, local clergyman the Rev. Kevin Cain – “Rev Kev,” to all who know him – started thinking.
He had an idea to expand the menu for students not on the team.
An idea he hoped would go right to the source of food insecurity that abounds … even in relatively prosperous Monongalia County.
To be food insecure means you’re simply unable to get enough on your plate to sustain yourself, nutritionally. That makes it just as clinical as it is socioeconomic.
Cain knew kids from needy households in Mon could rely on breakfast and lunch at school, but what about the weekend?
That’s how The Source, which offers literal bagfuls of food and nutritional snacks for such youngsters when the cafeteria is closed, came to be.
And that’s how he came to be at a meeting of the Monongalia County Board of Education last month, to accept statewide recognition for his program based at Skyview Elementary School.
The Education Alliance, a nonprofit in Charleston that recognizes such community collaborations, is linking up with Hope Gas for an award celebrating the outreach. The Source is one of its nominees.
“Hope for the Future: School-Business Partnerships of the Year,” is the name of the inaugural award that carries a total prize package of $25,000. The winner will be announced later this spring.
This particular enterprise, though, said Robert Hull, is in the immediate. And that’s what makes it vital, he said.
“The Source focuses on meeting community needs now,” Hull said. “That’s good work.”
Cain is gratified for the attention, he told the BOE. Not for ego, but for the outreach and education of it all.
The Source already has a core group of kindred spirits and caring volunteers, he said.
More people finding out about it, he preached, means more people joining ranks in the call of aiding a vulnerable population.
“We don’t receive a single government dollar,” he said. “There are so many good people giving of their time, their talent and their treasure.”
Since The Source’s founding in 2010, more than 3 million meals have been distributed, Cain continued – “And we’re serving almost 600 kids every weekend.”
From its home base at Skyview, the program has since branched out to students at Mylan Park and Mason Dixon elementary schools, along with Clay-Battelle Middle-High School and the EXCEL center.
“It’s an honor to be able to do this,” Cain said.
