Each Wednesday for 10 weeks this summer members of the Tryon Congregational Church have criss-crossed Polk County delivering the ingredients for a family meal to needy families in our community.  This effort, spearheaded by the outreach committee of the church, grew out of discussions about Thermal Belt Outreach Ministry’s (TBOM) Feed-A-Kid program that operates during the school year. The question about what happens to these hungry children during school vacations was asked. No satisfactory answer could be given.
Last summer, TBOM offered food for the children that had to be picked up by the parents at TBOM.  That program experienced limited success largely due to the inability of the parents to pick up the food.
So, Tryon UCC Board of Outreach members discussed the feasibility of delivering meals to the homes of the hungry children. Rather than just trying to provide food for school-aged children in the homes, the committee felt that the entire family should be fed. So, menus were designed, recipes were provided both in English and Spanish, ingredients were purchased with the help of TBOM, and, on June 13, the first delivery took place.  Each family received the ingredients for a family meal as well as Feed-A-Kid bags for each child in the family.