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North Texas nonprofit to expand summer program to feed children as need grows

A nonprofit in Lewisville is working to make sure kids who rely on the food offered at school get healthy meals throughout the summer, but the need has nearly doubled. "All summer, knowing they're not going to go to school and get food," said Debbie Avinger, who volunteers at Christian Community Action with her husband and son. "It breaks my heart." About 300,000 children in North Texas face food insecurity, which means one in five kids don't know where their next meal will come from. "And with these children specifically, 35% of the of Denton County children either have free lunches or price-reduced lunches during school," said Gilbert Montes, the CEO of Christian Community Action. Hunger doesn't take a break even when school ends, which is why Christian Community Action brings the food to them through their Kids Eat Free program. "We have, what we call kind of a DoorDash model," Montes said. Volunteers deliver meals for lunch each weekday, along with a packet of breakfast, lunch and snack items to help get families though the weekend. Last summer, Kids Eat Free served 600 children. They plan to nearly double that number this year by serving 1,000 kids. "We live in such, what I call these shiny suburbs that exist here and where we consider a very rich area, but there's a lot of need in the area and is growing every day," said Montes. "We see the lines of people who come every morning before we open the door, and the need just continues to grow and grow and grow." Meeting that need requires an army of volunteers and $372,000 worth of donations. The Avingers said there's no better cause to contribute to. "We've interacted with a lot of people at all different ages that need food, from children up to seniors, but those kids especially – just when we show up, the gratitude is pretty profound," Avinger said. If you want to help, you can drop off donations to the CCA Pantry, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at 200 S. Mill Street in Lewisville. You can also give through the Amazon Wish List or make a donation here . Volunteer to help sort, pack, and deliver items throughout the summer by contacting CCA at development@ .