Teens prepare meals for needy kids

More than 300 kids lined up for lunch at a Boys and Girls Club Friday—one of the many locations around the city where a total of 1,300 kids take advantage of its summer lunch program each day.

The president and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, Eric Cooper, said summer is an especially vulnerable time for children who are out of school and don't have lunch programs to depend on for food every day.

"Kids get out of school and go home to empty cupboards, empty refrigerators," Cooper said. "So the San Antonio Food Bank works to make sure no child goes hungry."

Friday, nearly 200 youth volunteers from 12 congregations in the San Antonio East Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from southeast San Antonio to Cibolo, came out to lend a hand. One group spent hours sorting boxes of non-perishable items. After the food is sorted, it is prepared by more volunteers inside a kitchen. Fourteen-year-olds Joseph Tucker and Robert Pena package up the good into ready-to-go meals.

"It's really cool for me because we get to help put people who really don't have the same thing we have," Tucker said.

In addition to the hundreds of mouths fed by the program, there are still many kids on a waiting list.

"It's sad to hear, but we're trying to help to save lives and to help other people that are in need right now," Pena said.