Kids Feeding Kids, a program that fed more than 35,000 youngsters over the last year, was launched on MLK Day 2007 to solve a serious hunger problem plaguing local children.

Many Twin Cities kids who attend local chapters of the Boys & Girls Clubs have to go several hours of the day on an empty stomach. These are children who come to the Club after school and do not go home until the Club closes at 9 p.m. … Those who go home for dinner are often left to prepare food on their own because their parents and guardians work over the dinner hour.  Often, these kids go hungry.

Kids Feeding Kids is built on the original Kids Café model used in 1994 in which members received a free family-style meal four evenings per week and on all school release days during the school year. The program was a huge success and grew from being offered at one club in the metro, to three total clubs. A few years later, the Kids Café eventually lost funding due to budget cuts and the cupboards were closed.

But fortunately the cupboards weren’t closed for good … In fall of 2006, Brad Rixmann of Burnsville-based Pawn America approached leaders of The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities to discuss the possibility of reinstating and reinventing the Kids Cafe program at the Jack Cornelius Club in South Minneapolis, with the longer-range goal of expanding sites through an ongoing cause-related initiative spearheaded and supported by his company, staff, business associates and friends.  Shortly thereafter, the Kids Feeding Kids initiative was created and funded through a joint effort of Pawn America and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities.

During its first two years, the Pawn America/Boys & Girls Clubs Kids Feeding Kids program has provided up to 750 nutritious meals per week for inner-city youth members between the ages of six and eighteen. The Club kids also learn important skills such as nutritional safety, kitchen safety and sanitation and understanding of recipes and measurements. The sustainability of the program is structured for and intends to call on various corporate and private donors annually to play a key role in building and maintaining the Kids Feeding Kids program.