Feed-A-Child Yancey County was founded in the Fall of 2007 by Robert and Glenda Wyatt. The need for the program was first brought to the attention of a school nurse who noticed that several kids were coming into her office on Monday mornings lethargic and with “shaking” hands. Over time the nurse gained the trust of students who revealed that, in many cases, the free lunch they received on Friday was the last time they had eaten until returning to school on Monday morning. The reason for a lack of healthy meals over the weekends were due to a variety of factors. Whatever the reason, these kids were simply not getting enough to eat over the weekends.

We started out feeding just 70 kids per week and now serve nearly 400 kids per week. On average, this means distributing around 20,000 lbs of food each school year.

Most recent figures show approximately 16% of Yancey County residents are living at or below the poverty level. We believe that any county in which 60% of students receive free or reduced lunches needs a program like ours. If recent statistics are correct, a lot of kids in our county are going to bed hungry at night.