MOULTRIE, Ga. — The R.E.A.L Church Community Center gives back to the community by hosting a food give away every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the children of the Moultrie-Colquitt County area.

The Rev. Cornelius Ponder III came up with the idea for a feeding program, but he didn’t know where to go with it.

The path became clearer when Courtney Sanders, a teacher at the Colquitt County  Achievement Center, spoke to one of his students and found out that outside of school they don’t have resources to get food.

“One of my students told me, ‘Coach, I don’t have nothing to eat,’” said Sanders. “I was like, well, what do you do on the weekends, and he said, ‘I eat when I can,’ and that’s when I went to church and the pastor said he wanted to do a feeding program for the community and it went from there.”

Vanessa Hanes, the volunteer office administrator, has only been part of the program for a month and already sees the good it does for the community.

“I’ve only been involved a month,” said Hanes. “It’s an excellent program and we have a lot of kids that turn out for it, but we know there are more kids out there that are hungry and we are looking to get those kids. It’s a community event, and we are trying to get the entire community involved.”

It’s about more than feeding kids. It’s about helping them in other aspects in life, according to Sanders.

“Kids come in, we give them advice,” said Sanders. “We just try to teach them different things. It’s more than just coming in to eat: We try to instill valuable life lessons that they can keep forever.”

If you or anyone you know wants to help by donating food or volunteering, visit the R.E.A.L Church Community Center at 905 W. Central Ave. or call at (229) 668-0245.