Can-Do Community: Summer Servings Delivers Big

As the school year winds down, summer can bring a new challenge for many families: keeping healthy food on the table when school meals are no longer available. That’s why this year’s Holiday Helpings distribution became something even bigger — a true community-powered effort to make sure local families headed into summer feeling supported, cared for, and nourished.

This was an all-hands-on-deck edition of Holiday Helpings as Chefs for Kids prepared to send more than 140 families home with bags full of fresh produce and healthy pantry staples for the summer months ahead. Thanks to an incredible partnership with KTNV Channel 13, we were honored to become the Quarter 2 “13 Connects” partner. Together, we launched the “Summer Servings” campaign, doubling our impact in the community.

The work began long before packing day.

Throughout April and May, Channel 13 encouraged viewers across the valley to donate healthy canned fruits and vegetables at Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas. Those canned goods became an important addition to Chefs for Kids’ traditional fresh produce distributions, helping families stock their kitchens with nutritious options that could last throughout the summer.

To make the donations even more impactful, Chefs for Kids created a brand-new educational handout designed to help families stretch their grocery dollars by learning how to read nutrition labels and choose healthier canned fruits and vegetables.

Fueled by the success of the Summer Servings campaign, Chefs for Kids was able to distribute 140 bags of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus 140 additional bags filled with canned fruits and vegetables along with a few pantry staples. 

That’s twice the support for local families equaling approximately 5,341 meals and 3,500 fresh fruit and veggie snack opportunities. 

And it truly took a village to make it happen.

Board members climbed behind the wheel of the CHEFMobile🚚, volunteers packed bags assembly-line style, and community partners rolled up their sleeves to help wherever needed. New friends from Ed Bernstein Injury Lawyers, America First Credit Union, Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas, and Channel 13 joined the effort, proving once again that this community shows up when families need it most.

While CHEFMobile🚚 drivers were busy collecting food donations, volunteers stuffed Lemon Says cards and nutrition education materials into envelopes for each family. Once the truck arrived, the real action began — unloading crates of produce, organizing canned goods, and carefully packing every bag with healthy ingredients families could use throughout the summer.

In the middle of the busy morning came an incredible surprise.

John Cook, General Manager of Channel 13, presented Chefs for Kids with an additional $6,500 donation to further support the nonprofit’s mission of fighting childhood hunger through nutrition education and access to healthy food.

Then came the final step: deliveries.

Cars were loaded, routes were mapped, and volunteers headed out to schools across the valley. One special delivery took place at Marion Cahlan Elementary School, where the principal and assistant principal were thrilled to receive the extra food support for their families.

Because of partnerships like these, Holiday Helpings is about so much more than bags of food. It’s about neighbors helping neighbors, businesses stepping up, and a community coming together to ensure children and families have access to healthy meals all summer long.

Every can donated, every bag packed, and every mile driven helped make summer a little brighter, and a little healthier, for more than 140 local families.