Twelve years ago, Edna and David Tevet of Ollie’s Restaurant became aware of the magnitude of childhood hunger in our backyard. With estimates of 15 million hungry children in our country, 11,770 in our own county, they decided to establish the “Dinners For Kids” (DFK) program, with the goal of fighting childhood hunger by preparing and distributing healthy meals to local children. David and Edna learned that besides the obvious human suffering, childhood hunger has an adverse effect on children’s physical and mental health, their behavior, and their school performance. After talking to several teachers and human services officials, it was evident that many at-risk children only received decent daily meals through subsidized at-school lunches. Unfortunately, many of these children go to sleep every night hungry. This gave light to the idea of Dinners For Kids. This community program provides local children with freshly prepared, kid-approved, nutritious and balanced dinners. Each healthy dinner is packaged in a microwave-safe container and is accompanied by fresh fruit.
Beginning in February of 2011, Dinners For Kids started their program by delivering six meals per week, year-round, directly to the children’s homes. The program was created to ensure that local children never again go to sleep on an empty stomach and alleviate the negative side effects of childhood hunger. Today, the program serves over 240 at-risk children in Wilkes Barre, the West Side, and the Dallas area totaling over 75,000 meals per year.
The Dinners For Kids program was designed to be a program that can be replicated by other food service facilities. We would like to personally thank Misericordia University and its food service provider, Metz Culinary Management, which joined the program in 2016 to serve meals to children in need in the Back Mountain area. Gratefully in 2021, the program was replicated in Monroe County, NY.
The program has won numerous awards. It was recognized for its community service by our local State Senators and Representatives, the Interfaith Council of Wilkes-Barre, Head Start and others.
Ollie’s restaurant won the 2015 National Restaurant Association “Restaurant Neighbor Award,” as well as the State awards for 2014 and 2015.
Metz Culinary management won the 2018 PA Restaurant Association “Restaurant Neighbor Award.”
