Shown are HEB officials along with representatives of the Boys & Girls Club of San Benito, which received a $50,000 donation from the former. (Staff photo by Michael Rodriguez)
By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
Cramped inside a small kitchen that could fit no more than a few people at a time, the Boys & Girls Club of San Benito have often struggled – especially this summer – to meet the demand of preparing meals for as many as 220 children.
It wasn’t a problem that couldn’t be resolved by throwing a little money at it. But money is precisely what the club and other non-profit organizations operating in San Benito lack nowadays.
Enter HEB.
On Friday, HEB partners together with club and city officials as well as board members attended the grand opening celebration of the newly remodeled and expanded Kids’ Café, the kitchen which the club prepares meals for the children it serves.
“The cooking facility was extremely small and the equipment was outdated,” said Virginia Perez, Public Affairs Specialist for the HEB Border Region.
So the solution HEB presented was to donate $50,000 to the club. Now the Kids’ Café kitchen is twice the size it once was and has been refurbished with new appliances, including a stove, refrigerator, freezer and a sink – all of which are USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) required. The kitchen is also in compliance with fire standards, not to mention storage facilities.
“It’s important to HEB (to contribute) because we want our kids, who are our future, to be able to have what they need and to be able to learn, which is what they do at the Boys & Girls Club. They need the appropriate atmosphere to be able to do that,” Perez said. “So what we did with the Kids’ Café was a very crucial part of the Boys & Girls Club. We’re just trying to provide a convenience for them and the parents, who are a part of the community.”
Mario Cervantes, Chief Professional Officer (CPO) for the club said the facility has been in operation for a few weeks and praised HEB for the donation, saying it has already made a positive impact.
Such an impact was immediately visible to Perez, who said she was pleased to see the children’s response. “The look on these kids’ faces… it’s just great to see the happy faces from all these kids,” she said.
For more information on the Boys & Girls Club of San Benito, call (956) 399-6442.
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the July 24 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
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