Western Illinois University student-athletes and members of the Sodexo staff recently helped out Macomb-area social service agencies with their Summer Weekend Lunch community program. According to Pete Tarantola, an alumnus of the WIU Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration graduate program, a group of churches, social service agencies and volunteers in the Macomb community have been providing two sack lunches every weekend this summer (one for Saturday, one for Sunday) to area children.
Tarantola, who is the director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Warren and McDonough Counties, said the program was started to help offset some of the social service-funding cuts in Illinois and is completely volunteer based.
On three different Fridays this summer, student athletes on WIU’s football and volleyball teams, as well as Sodexo staff (who provide University Dining Services), volunteered to help make the lunches for distribution to the kids.
“So far, we have been able to help 56 kids. We are thrilled to have Western students and members of Sodexo’s staff help us out with this weekend lunch program,” Tarantola said. “Sodexo staff went one step further and donated food for the program, as well.”
For more information, contact Tarantola at (309) 837-5437 or via email at ptarantola@bbbs-mv.org.
Read more at: http://www.wiu.edu/news/newsrelease.php?release_id=12777
