Geary County is the most food insecure county in Kansas – that is one claim to fame that many in the community are trying hard to dispel.
Wheels of Hope is an organization that provides food to local families as a supplement to the food that they might receive from other sources in the community.
Shelley Hoyle-Kite noted that the mission of the non-profit organization is hope –help other people eat. “Our mission is to provide food to chronically hungry children and families in this community; so we deliver food on a monthly basis to a group of people that we’ve identified [as being in need].”
Wheels of Hope was officially founded in July 2014 as a way to combat food insecurity in the County.
“[Many] families do not have access to healthy, nutritious food – it’s not easily accessible to them; and we all know that we need healthy, nutritious food to live,” said Hoyle-Kite. “[Food] affects our mind, our body, and everything we do in life; it’s a very important need.”
Being ranked as the most food insecure county, didn’t come as a surprise to Hoyle-Kite who worked in the school district for many years and saw childhood hunger firsthand. “In my years in the school district, I’ve seen a lot of indicators [of food insecurity]; the children that [Wheels of Hope] serves are those kids that come to school Monday morning and just inhale their breakfast and you wonder if they’ve had a real meal – they’ve probably had snacks and stuff – but a real meal since Friday at noon.”
Since July 2014 Wheels of Hope has worked to address food insecurity by serving over 1000 local families. From July 2014 to the end of June 2015, 373 families were served. “From 2015 to 2016 we served 522 [families]…and then this year so far (from July 2016), we’ve served 451,” said Hoyle-Kite. “So we’re going to surpass that 522 [in 15-16] I’m pretty confident.”
A total of 1346 families have been served through the Wheels of Hope mobile food pantry.
Donations to the mobile pantry are welcome at the First United Methodist Church in Junction City, for more information click here. You can also receive more information on Facebook.
Volunteers are also needed for the ongoing effort.
For more information contact Shelley Hoyle-Kite at 238-6222 or tandskite@cox.net.