VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - Second Harvest of South Georgia estimates 1 in 4 children in South Georgia live in a home with food insecurity.

Thirty years ago the Boys and Girls Club of Valdosta was the first partner of Second Harvest Kid’s Cafe program. Now, the partnership serves 80,000 meals per summer in four counties.

The Kids Cafe program, a food service program for kids, primarily targets low-income, at-risk, and food-insecure youth.

Kristin Hanna, Boys and Girls Club Executive Director said, “As we are looking into more counties I’m able to call the second harvest team and they are ensuring me that they are coming to with us when we go into new counties in South Georgia and that’s incredible.”

Now, with a new kitchen at Second Harvest headquarters there is more space to prepare and store food to be distributed to over 40 sites in South Georgia this summer, according to Eliza McCall, Chief Programming Officer at Second Harvest of South Georgia.

She said, “Our summer feeding program will have I think 40 sites and they will be able to get out in the community and help provide those meals for those kids.”

The larger kitchen with brand new appliances, includes bigger freezer and dry storage to help preserve perishable and non-perishable items.

McCall said, “Each of those sites the menu may vary a little bit depending on what the needs are for that particular site, some of them need cold meals because the kids are going to grab and go and some will eat on site so that will be a hot meal.”

BGC serves 1,200 children daily with various stress factors that impact families’ ability to afford food or time they can provide meals.

“Hungry kids can’t learn, all of our data tells us so I think our hearts would tell us that too. Making sure that when kids show up we give them breakfast before we start academics or they play outside. That’s really crucial for developing the whole child,” Hanna said.

Second Harvest will start its summer food service programs start June 1.

This Thursday, May 15, at 10 a.m. Second Harvest of South Georgia welcomes the community to tour its new headquarters at 1836 Piedmont Place, Valdosta.

Have a news tip or see an error that needs correction? Let us know. Please include the article’s headline in your message.

To stay up to date on all the latest news as it develops, follow WALB on Facebook and X (Twitter). For more South Georgia news, download the WALB News app from the Apple Store or Google Play.

Copyright 2025 WALB. All rights reserved.