Meridian Waste Partnered with the Wright City Community Food Pantry for Children’s Summer Luncheon Series

Free Lunch Program for Children Helps Combat Summer Hunger

 

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Aug. 9, 2019) – Meridian Waste, an integrated, non-hazardous solid waste services company, partnered with the Wright City Community Food Pantry to provide meals for 47 children and teens earlier today as part of a summer lunch series.

Over the summer while school is out and cafeterias are closed, underserved children may not have access to nutritious food. Meridian Waste has partnered with the Wright City Community Food Pantry’s summer lunch program to provide today’s meal.

Pastor Joe Purl of the Wright City Church of the Nazarene, which houses the community food pantry, credits all churches, businesses, and volunteers in the community with filling the pantry and providing meals.

“As the summer comes to an end, we work together to ensure our vulnerable children and teens have these lunches as access to fresh, healthy food right up until school starts again. We serve these meals Monday through Friday to 40-50 children, teens and their families each day,” said Purl. “The smiles on these children’s faces is thanks enough for the efforts we make as a community.”

The luncheon was held at the Wright City North Apartment Complex, where the program began two years ago with a call from the manager asking Purl how to help their residents. Today, volunteers from the Food Pantry and Meridian Waste lined up to serve the children and assist with the meal.

“These are our children, our community, and our neighbors. When we see a community that we service in need, I’m delighted to say that I work for a company who steps up to the plate to help out. Wright City is a small community with a big heart,” said volunteer and organizer Michelle Vohsen of Meridian Waste. “This program is more than just a meal; this promotes love and security for these children in our community. We are building friendships, and potentially, future employees, for years to come.”

Meridian Waste purchased 60 boxed lunches from Subway Restaurants, providing six-inch sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies, and a beverage for each attendee. The remaining 13 meals were donated to a similar senior citizen care program.

Lunches are served in the community each day throughout the program, and an estimated 1,200 lunches are served over the six-week period to children in need.

 

 

Photo 1: Meridian Waste volunteers Cody Nelson and Michelle Vohsen.

Photo 2: Meridian Waste's volunteers Cody Nelson, Stacey Nelson, Frank Levy, and Nick Misuraca.

Photo 3: Meridian Waste's volunteer Frank Levy serving the meal.

 

About Meridian Waste
Headquartered in Greensboro, Ga., Meridian Waste is a company defined by its commitment to servicing its customers, caring for and engaging its employees, and generating financial value for its shareholders while delivering a clean and healthy community. The company’s core waste business is centered on residential, commercial, and industrial non-hazardous waste collection and disposal. Currently, the company operates in., Richmond, Va., Blacksburg, Va., Augusta, Ga., Northeast Florida St. Louis, Mo and Knoxville, Tenn., servicing more than 140,000 residential, commercial, industrial and governmental customers. In addition to a fleet of commercial, residential, and roll-off trucks, the company operates one transfer station, three recycling facilities, three municipal solid waste landfills and two C&D landfills in which 955,800 tons of waste are safely disposed annually. For more information, visit MeridianWaste.com.

For more information about the Wright City Community Food Pantry, please call (636) 745-3821 or visit https://www.wrightcitycfp.org/