Inspired Beginnings

The heart of our program began in 2011 when Tamala Reid was substituting at Talbott Springs Elementary School and a student spoke to her. He was worried that he would not have enough food for the upcoming four-day weekend. Tamala was concerned. That evening, she was inspired after reading an article about weekend food programs for children and from there the program was started.

With the combined efforts of the principal, PTA, and members of the Community Outreach Committee, the initiative was officially launched. Today, Talbott Springs is proud to partner with Just One Kid (www.justonekid.org) to continue this mission and feed students in Central Maryland who face food insecurity on the weekends.

What began with just 10 students has expanded to a network of over 100 giving hearts and helping hands, delivering weekend care bags to 80—and sometimes up to 100—students weekly. Funding was and continues to be donated by individuals, families, corporate sponsors, and community members at large. We are truly blessed and continue in gratitude with Just One Kid.

Standout Moments

Standout moments come from our school-based delivery team realizing that they aren’t only providing food to feed the students—they are also building relationships with them. The students develop a stronger connection with staff, feel comfortable speaking about other things in their lives, eagerly give greetings, and are excited when they see the team. It becomes about so much more than just food delivery.

Shout Out to Volunteers

A big shout out and thank you to the many volunteer hands with one heart that feed the kids each weekend. They are a team of dedicated volunteers who continue to give freely of their time to shop, organize, pack, and deliver food to our students. They are committed to making certain the students in our Just One Kid program receive their food bags each week.

Our volunteers are community and school-based people and organizations ranging from the Principal, front office, and dedicated staff members, to the Community Outreach Committee of the Talbott Springs PTA, the family involvement team, and corporate sponsors. The Charlotte Savoy Team and her Just One Kid charity shops, organizes, packs, and delivers 400 or more bags to our school each month, and school-based volunteers make certain each student receives their food for the weekend.

This vital program continues at Talbott Springs Elementary School because of our dedicated team of empowered and committed volunteers. The volunteers help us reach our goal of ensuring children do not go hungry on the weekends.

We are truly grateful for all of our volunteers and donors for their past, present, and future support and contributions of time and monetary donations to help feed the students over the weekend. They make our program HAPPEN in our community.

Thank you to our many heart-filled VOLUNTEERS, for your many helping hands!