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One True Thing

Four years ago, Families Helping Families (FHF) was asked to help host a summer lunch program for Clinton school children. When the program ended, we determined that we couldn’t operate the program with federal guidelines in place. Some of those guidelines were not very child- or parent friendly.

FHF decided if we were going to have a program, we were going to have one in which the best interests of the children and the parents came first. The first decision was easy, of course: We wanted the program to continue. That being said, we thought the next steps would be more difficult. Were we ever wrong! First thing was to find a place we thought would be convenient to all. We thought the logical place would be The Henry Carter Hull Library. Its community room would be the perfect place—but would the library consent to having its room tied up every Friday for a few hours all summer long? They immediately welcomed us and we had the first piece of the puzzle solved—but what about food?

Chow Food and Beverage had just opened for business and although we thought it might prove difficult, we decided to ask for their help. Once again we were surprised. Owner Jeff Mastroianni didn’t hesitate when asked and said of course he would provide the lunches. So over the past three years not only have more than 1,800 lunches served, but many community groups have provided programs to add to the lunch time.

In 13 years, FHF has found one thing to be true: Caring about and sharing with others is part of the DNA of Clinton.

Miner T. Vincent, President

Families Helping Families