Clarksville, TN – The FUEL Program provides take-home meals to thousands of Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) students who may not otherwise have access to food at home. Since the schools closed March 12th, 2020 because of the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, FUEL has continued to provide meals to children, and each week the need has grown.
FUEL, with help from dozens of community volunteers, this week will prepare and distribute more than 5,000 meal bags. The program needs help replenishing its pantry quickly to fill bags for the coming weeks.
“Denise Skidmore, leader of the FUEL Program, and her volunteers do a wonderful and efficient job of getting food to youngsters who really need the help,” Mayor Joe Pitts said. “Especially in this time of extra demand, I urge our residents to step up and help FUEL.”
Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett noted that FUEL is picking up the slack to make sure children do not go hungry.
“My wife, Mary, and I have had the privilege of helping to pack food for kids through this program and have been amazed by how well they run their operation,” Mayor Durrett said. “We need to do all we can to support their efforts as well as the other organizations that are working to help people in our community.”
Residents can make a monetary donation through PayPal or with a credit card at www.fuelforkids.org
The organization also uses an Amazon program — online at www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3T2ABWZ899792?ref_=wl_share — that will ship donated goods directly to FUEL. Please look at the delivery dates because shipping of some items has been delayed.
In-person donations can be dropped off from 2:00pm-4:00pm Thursday, 5:00pm-7:00pm Friday and 8:30am-11:00am Saturday at Hilldale United Methodist Church located at 1751 Madison Street, Clarksville.
Donated foods should not require a can opener, refrigeration or cooking, and must be individually wrapped and ready to eat. Most-needed food items are: individual boxes of cereal; crackers with cheese; juice boxes and pouches; Slim Jim’s and meat sticks; and individual servings of mac and cheese.
Other popular kid-friendly items include fruit cups, Pop Tarts, fruit roll-ups, fruit twisters, breakfast bars, granola bars, individually packaged servings of applesauce, raisins and pudding snacks.
High protein options include cheese sticks, peanut butter crackers, peanut butter snack sticks, tuna in a pouch and nuts in a pouch.
To find out more about the FUEL Program, visit www.fuelforkids.org
