Warren woman provides 24-hour shelter to help feed local children
Staggering statistics show more than 30,000 local children don't know when they'll have their next meal.
Staggering statistics show more than 30,000 local children don't know when they'll have their next meal.
A Warren woman is providing a private 24 hour emergency care shelter for kids with the basic necessities in life, including food, clothes and a place to call home.
Betty Strawderman knows all too well how many children in the Valley have been subjected to abuse, neglect and homelessness. Betty's Angels has been a shelter since 1977 and she's helped more than 100 kids have a hot meal and a roof over their head. Betty's first angels were two girls who were living on the street.
“What they were doing was being traded for sex in order to have food and clothing. I offered them a home and education not to do this anymore. Then one came, then two more came, and two boys came later and it just never stopped,” said Strawderman.
Currently, she shelters 15 angels with the youngest child at 3-months old. Betty's shelter runs 100% on donations. Second Harvest Food Bank has helped her save over $1,000 in groceries every month.
Strawderman says, “We have been blessed by the Food Bank. I am able to provide more healthy meals for the kids and they can have as much as they desire.”
More than 50% of the students in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties get free or reduced-price lunches. Donations of simple staples, like cereal and mac and cheese can change a child's whole meal.
“To watch that child's face at the end of the week, that wow I got cereal this week, I was able to have a bowl of cereal, it's a real treat,” said Mike Iberis, Executive Director of Second Harvest Food Bank.
Kid friendly donations of peanut butter, granola bars, and apple sauce are just a few items that can help Second Harvest's backpack program feed thousands of kids in the Valley. The backpack program is designed to have lunches sent home with students after school on Fridays to better the chances that they have food over the weekend.
Iberis says, “We can help get food to kids that are hungry. That's what we do here at the Food Bank. We feed hungry kids, we feed hungry seniors, we feed hungry communities.”
