Feeding Southwest Virginia and other nonprofits hosted a kid’s farmers market at the Boys and Girls Club.
Kids from the Boys and Girls Club walked through Feeding Southwest Virginia’s children’s farmer’s market. It’s a way for kids to use fake money from the nonprofit to pick out fruits and veggies to take back home.
Feeding Southwest Virginia partnered with The Hokie Way, a Virginia Tech student-athlete nonprofit.
The Hokie Way allows athletes to volunteer and engage with the community, so on Tuesday they got to shop for produce with the kids.
“Seeing these kids light up when they see the student-athletes [and] when they get to engage and talk to them, it usually takes a couple of minutes for them to warm up to the student-athletes because they are a little older, and they’ve seen them on TV maybe, but I get chills seeing kids get excited earning from kids a little bit older than them,” Matthew Sams, Executive Director of the Hokie Way said.
Here in Southwest Virginia, the need for food is high. And while kids are out of school for summer the need is even higher.
”Unfortunately, a lot of the kids we will see today will need it. It helps subsidize their family’s opportunities of purchasing food and getting food on the table,” Randy Holden, Director of Volunteer Services at Feeding Southwest Virginia, said.
Virginia Tech athletes were helping the kids every step of the way, from responsible spending to choosing their favorite produce.
“It’s definitely a really powerful impact that these organizations are putting on here. Just giving these kids, the access to this is something I think can create really great habits for them in the future and can really pay off,” Nick Gallo, Tight End for Virginia Tech, said.
This program gives kids a chance to make healthy choices both fun and educational.