Kids Eat Free
More than 100,000 summer breakfasts have filled the stomachs of the children of Southern Anne Arudel County over the last decade, thanks to the Cedar Grove United Methodist Breakfast Club.
The Breakfast Club began because third-grader Nathaniel Quimby wanted to ensure that all his friends got breakfast during the months school was out. Ingrid Quimby-High, Nathaniel’s mother, brought the idea to her church. Thus began the club’s carryout breakfasts.
The club bags a healthful meal of both perishable and non-perishable foods such as yogurt, cheese sticks, fruit cups, fresh bread, granola bars and more.
“For some of these kids, this may be the only meal they have each day,” Quimby-High says.
This year’s breakfast carryout begins Thursday, July 5 (due to Independence Day) when Cedar Grove UMC provides five days of bagged breakfasts to all children and families who come calling. Normal pick-up is Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:00pm at the church in Deale.
That service is run by Nathaniel, who has just graduated high school, with the help of his younger brother. Along with Quimby-High and her kids, many volunteers work to supply these kids with a healthy way to start their day.
“There is absolutely no registration process or form of qualification,” Quimby-High says, “but we do appreciate when a family can call in at least a week ahead of time so we have an idea of how much to make.”
Call for reservations or to volunteer: 410-867-7417.
Over the decade, the Breakfast Club has extended its reach from Deale, the home of Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, to Patuxent Mobile Estates, Lyons Creek Mobile Estates and Rio Vista Mobile Estates, where parents and children are welcome to pick up meals in reusable bags 8:30-9:00am Monday-Friday. Service is now underway and runs through August 17. Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Lothian sponsors and prepares the meals for this expanding program, soon to add two more mobile estate locations: 410-867-4035.
“There was nothing in the county at the time to help them during the summer,” Quimby-High tells us, “and from a parent’s perspective, no one should be going without food.”
Nowadays, Summer Meals for Kids, often both breakfast and lunch, are offered throughout much of Anne Arundel County with no income or registration requirements. Find the locations — both schools and community sites — nearest you at https://mars.msde.mary
land.gov/mars_sitesearch.