Feeding Kids/Reading Kids of Cleveland County, N.C., Grateful for Gardner-Webb Support Since 2015

Community Organization Relies Entirely on Volunteers to Help Families

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Feeding Kids/Reading Kids of Cleveland County, N.C., is fully dependent on volunteers to meet the needs of families in the community. Recently, Gardner-Webb University Instructor of Nursing Tara Hayes took her University Life 111 (UNIV 111) class to volunteer at the non-profit organization. She was surprised to discover some GWU connections already in place.

Feeding Kids/Reading Kids is housed in the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church Community Life Center in Shelby. The Center’s Executive Director, Chad Roseboro, is a GWU alumnus and current Master of Divinity student. He and Hayes completed their bachelor’s degrees at the same time. In addition, the pastor of Mt. Calvary, Lamont Littlejohn, has three degrees from Gardner-Webb and currently serves on the GWU Board of Trustees.

Roseboro greeted Hayes with enthusiasm and shared that he was encouraged to see students from his alma mater volunteering for Feeding Kids/Reading Kids. He also remembered the impact participating in a service project had on him and his class. “I value 100% the relationships I made while at Gardner-Webb,” Roseboro asserted. “Most of my current friendships were set in foundation during my time there, and I look forward to more relationships forming from my ties to Gardner-Webb.”

As executive director of the Community Life Center, Roseboro is responsible for daily operations, making sure everything runs smoothly for the non-profit groups and law enforcement agencies housed there. Atrium Health also has a virtual health care clinic on the campus.

Feeding Kids/Reading Kids distributes boxes of food and age-appropriate books to families six times a year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, June, July and August. These boxes contain pantry items and fresh food. The families who receive the food have been identified by school social workers as families with food insecurities.

During the year, the organization provides bags of food to elementary students to take home on the weekends. And there’s where another GWU connection comes in—Gardner-Webb’s Student Government Association (SGA) packs the food bags for the elementary school children. Micah Martin, director of Gardner-Webb’s Center for Personal & Professional Development, is a founding board member of Feeding Kids. He has involved SGA from the group’s beginning in 2015.

Martin said the SGA packs 50 bags that are delivered weekly to students at three schools. “Feeding Kids uses financial donations to order the food items and has them delivered here to campus for SGA to pack,” he explained. “It comes straight to our post office here in Tucker. I unload it and break it down with SGA help. It’s a simple process that works well.” 

For more information about volunteering or donating, contact Feeding Kids.

To our readers: Feeding Kids of Cleveland County is a separate organization from The Little Bulldog Backpack Program, led by GWU Registrar [email protected]. Also a non-profit organization, The Little Bulldog Backpack Program provides food to children at two schools in the Boiling Springs area, Springmore Elementary and Boiling Springs Elementary. Healthy food is delivered in backpacks that are filled weekly by the various clubs and departments at Gardner-Webb. For more information regarding the Little Bulldog Backpack Program, contact Scates.

Gardner-Webb University is North Carolina’s recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to nine colleges and schools, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty. Located on a beautiful 225-acre campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., Gardner-Webb prepares graduates to impact their chosen professions, equips them with the skills to advance the frontiers of knowledge, and inspires them to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Ignite your future at Gardner-Webb.edu.