Scott Spitzer, Brenda Allison and Laurie Legg (Heather Mann for The Tribune)
CULLMAN – Pentastar South Car Club partnered with Cullman Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram to host the club’s annual Mopars at the Depot car show recently. The show brings Mopar vehicles from all over the Southeast to support Alabama Credit Union’s Secret Meals for Hungry Children program. On Wednesday, a check for $3,362 was presented to the cause.
Laurie Legg, supervisor for the Cullman branch of Secret Meals, stated that the program is designed to help ensure that children get the nutrition they need outside of school. Every year, as many as 450,000 children in Alabama will require free or reduced lunches in state school systems due to low family income. Many of these children depend on the two meals their school provides – breakfast and lunch – and struggle on weekends when food is not readily available.
Brenda Allison, who organizes the car show each year, is a high school special education teacher, and she sees the struggles of food-insecure students firsthand. "I have students come by my classroom as they are going home in the afternoon to see if I may have just a pack of peanut crackers they can have. That's why we work so hard with Laurie and Secret Meals to help all we can to provide meals for as many children as possible."
The program's website, www.secretmeals.org/, states, "Secret Meals fills the gap these children experience by discretely slipping into their backpack, on Friday's, vitamin-fortified and nutritional meals. Alabama Credit Union created the Secret Meals For Hungry Children program in 2008 with one goal in mind – decreasing the number of children in Alabama and Florida facing hunger over the weekend. […] With one of the highest poverty rates in the country, 22 percent of both Alabama and Florida’s children live below the poverty level. Currently 2,312 students are receiving Secret Meals food packs across the state of Alabama and into Florida. To date, no school has been denied a request to increase the number of children enrolled in the program. $140 (on average) is the cost to provide a weekend food pack to one child, identified as going hungry, for an entire school year."
Said Allison, “I remember the first show we did, we were so happy to present a check for $800. Each year our show has grown, and we are so very happy to present a check this year for $3,362. This is only possible because of the strong sponsorship from Scott Spitzer and the Cullman Dodge Dealership. They really step up each year with our car how and give us whatever we need to make it a success."
Donations to Secret Meals may also be made at www.secretmeals.org/Donate.
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