express

CHILDREN’S EXPRESS

The purpose of Children’s Express (CX) is to ensure that children of our area do not go hungry.This program distributes a bag of healthy food to children on weekends throughout the school year. This program has been organized as a part of Grayson Grand Central Station.

 A small group began meeting in the Spring of 2012 to study what could be done to feed our hungry children. After months of evaluating numerous programs, a decision was made to start a weekend lunch program in Summer of 2013.It began as a summer/holiday distribution program. It was also determined that the program start small and expand as resources became available.
Jefferson Elementary was our pilot school. By the summer of 2015, all eight elementary schools were part of the program.

In the Fall of 2015, feedback from the teachers indicated that many children were returning on Monday not having had anything to eat over the weekend. This prompted Children’s Express  to begin our weekend program. In February of 2016, the weekend lunch program began serving 120 students at two elementary schools. At the end of the 2021-2022 school year, we were distributing 550 bags on a weekly basis to seven of the elementary schools.  

COVID did not slow us down.  During the Spring of 2020, working closely along with the schools, we devised a plan on how to continue to get food to our students. In the fall of 2020, we were able to return to our normal routine.  Also, we were able to assist the Sherman distrtict by providing refillable water bottles for students.

We have an amazing group of volunteers.  The pool of volunteers come from churches, civic organizations, and some companies encourage their employees to volunteer (Cigna and Texas Instruments) We have volunteers who meet the North Texas Food Bank truck…unload and then deliver to our warehouse; those who pack bags to be distributed weekly;drivers who deliver the bags to the schools.  The volunteers that we have are willing to do what it takes to get the job done.

There is a lot of sweat and hard work but such a great sense of satisfaction that we are doing something good for our students.

We receive money from local organizations, private donors,and grants.We are grateful for the wonderful community support and great volunteers.

For information on volunteering or making a donation, please contact Wendy Vellotti, Executive Director, Grand Central Station at 903-957-0264.