Culinary arts students of the Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center recently prepared 450 meals for the student body through the Kids Feeding Kids program.

This marks the second year that the TCC has been awarded the reimbursable grant, funded by Pete's Garden, a nonprofit based in Kansas City that aims to combat food insecurity and eliminate waste.

“Some go home from school to food insecurity; some throw a half-gallon of milk away that is a day old,” said Brandon Moon, culinary arts instructor. “So often society asks, ‘What can I get,’ as opposed to ‘How can I help?’”

Moon administered the grant twice last school year, serving 900 meals between the Bread Shed in the fall and the United Gospel Rescue Mission in the spring, after attending a three-day workshop over the summer in Cape Girardeau.

The participating culinary arts students learned about the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, a 1996 law named after the late Missouri congressman that offers liability protection to donors of surplus food. “Leftover food doesn’t need to go in the trash when stomachs are hungry,” Moon emphasized.

This year, the class decided to focus on feeding the student population at the TCC in hopes that the take-home family dinners reach someone in need, according to Moon. The other half of the meals were sent to the Middle School for households identified by the counseling office.

Students prepared 40 pounds of chicken and 80 pounds of rice, along with over 50 pounds of freshly chopped vegetables in ready-to-heat packages. Since relocating the program to the TCC campus last school year, Moon noted that Mules Café students are cooking-to-order, so the grant initiative has enabled batch-cooking practice as they did in the previous smaller kitchen.

While PBHS junior Marie Maize was one of the students in charge of portioning the meals on Thursday, Nov. 20, she had a chance to operate the cash register the previous week at the student-run restaurant.

“We all have opportunities to do any job; it’s a balanced system,” Maize said. “I’m not a huge dishes fan, but it has to be done. Overall, it’s a really fun program.”

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Cutline: TCC culinary arts students Maria Maize and Miles Newcomb portion out the ready-to-heat take-home family dinners.