PROFILE:
Charity feeds children with help
from Arlington Tomorrow Foundation
One in six households in Texas faces
hunger.
The Vernon Wells Perfect 10 Charity
wants to make sure Arlington children do
not.
With help from the Arlington
Tomorrow Foundation, Perfect 10 will
provide backpacks full of healthy snacks
this year to students at Peach Elementary
School in Arlington.
“Our mission is to feed kids,
emotionally, spiritually and physically,”
Perfect 10 Executive Director Chris
Howard said. “This is a way to tackle food
insecurity.”
Food insecurity is defined as being
without reliable access to affordable,
nutritious food.
For many school-aged children,
Howard said, food insecurity worsens
during the weekend when schools are
closed. So Perfect 10 provides snack packs
on Friday afternoons with items like nuts,
crackers, soup, juice and more.
To help, Arlington Tomorrow
Foundation gave a $10,000 grant to feed
students at Peach Elementary. In addition
to Peach, Perfect 10 provides snack packs
at seven other Arlington elementary
schools.
Ashley West, counselor at Peach
Elementary, said the help has been
invaluable to children and their families.
“This means the world to our
families,” West said. “Hungry kids cannot
learn because they can’t think about
anything other than their hunger. Our
parents were ecstatic and grateful for this
help.”
Launched by former Major League
Baseball All-Star and Arlington native
Vernon Wells and his wife, Charlene,
the Perfect 10 Charity works to support
emotional, physical and spiritual needs of
disadvantaged children around Arlington.
The nonprofit also provides summer
enrichment and mentoring opportunities.
“It starts with feeding children,”
Howard said. “Children who are physically
nourished are ready to grow and reach
their potential.”