Boys and Girls Club pauses feeding program for lack of protective gear

Published 8:14 pm Thursday, April 9, 2020

MOULTRIE, Ga.–The Boys and Girls Club of Moultrie-Colquitt County have served free meals to youth and the disabled since March 18, but from April 6-20 they are on hiatus.

It’s one part strategic planning and one part to resupply personal protective equipment, CEO Joseph Matchett IV said Thursday.

As the BGC provided 1,650 meals a day between its breakfasts and lunches, its everyday use of PPE thinned the supply. A PPE shipment won’t be in until April 20.

Matchett said they’ll also be back with other programming too.

BGC club members will be able to receive their typical programming online. This includes things like teen pregnancy prevention, leadership development and financial literacy.

Programming will start around 3:30 p.m., Matchett said, and will follow usual after school programming guidelines: three programs a day, five days a week for one hour each.

Similar to how the school system is conducting their courses, the BGC program facilitators will meet with members through a virtual/video classroom.

BGC will start performing its grab and go supper and snack section for members only — a reinvention of its after school feeding program.

The breakfasts and lunches from before will still be for the entire community, however.

With COVID-19 forcing significant changes to community functions, Matchett said the BGC had to adapt. He and staff knew they had members to serve but didn’t want to leave the rest of the community out.

He referenced these meals being a part of the “Bright From The Start” emergency disaster relief program, which usually runs through the summer.

Current circumstances in mind, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning program had to come a bit sooner.

“The goal is to give nutritious meals to school-age students when school is out,” Matchett said.

This nutritious meal is usually given to members of the BGC’s afterschool program, but with the school system having closed, the students no longer come. As a solution, the club is bringing the food to the students.

Using a BGC van, representatives drive to eight locations twice a day, Monday-Friday, and allow kids and teens to pick up the meals.

Whereas distribution has changed, the nutrition aspect of it has not.

“We provide the same meal pattern as the school nutrition plan, so that’s a grain, a fruit, a vegetable, milk, and a protein or meat substitute,” Matchett said.

He said the nutrition plan usually allots that there be six ounces of fruit or vegetables and six ounces of meat or meat substitute. The BGC gives 4 ounces of each instead.

Breakfast will be served at all feeding sites at 10 a.m. and lunch at 1 p.m. The eight sites are are as followed:

•Boys and Girls Club of Moultrie-Colquitt County Housing Authority (725 Fourth Street N.W.)

•Haven Hill Estates (1331 Highway 319 N. in Norman Park)

•Packer Villas (414 Ninth Street S.W.)

•Shy Manor Terrace (800 Northside Drive)

•Berlin Youth Center (174 Wilkes Street in Berlin)

•Ashton Crossing Apartment Homes (3109 Veterans Parkway)

•Paradise Apartments (532 27th Drive S.E.)

•The Upper Room (211 Circle Road)

The drive thru “Grab and Go Supper and Snack” portion will be from 5-6 p.m at 420 West Central Avenue.

All programs will run until school begins again, even in the summer as the Summer Food Service Program. All programs stated will resume on April 20.