Hundreds of children in East Tennessee are left to fend for themselves after school. Many parents work late, or are simply not around, and children as young as 7 years old are left alone with nothing to do, no one to watch them, and nothing to eat. Kids Cafe helps solve these problems by providing a safe place for kids to gather after school, with adult supervision, planned activities and nutritious food to eat.

Kids Cafe is a collaborative effort between Second Harvest and various youth service providers like the Boys and Girls Club and Emerald Youth Foundation. Kids Cafe enhances these after-school programs by offering nutritious, hot meals to children who attend. Kids help prepare the food that they will eat while learning about proper nutrition.

After-school programs often operate on a razor-thin budget. Many programs struggle to keep their doors open and most are unable to afford to buy food for the children they serve. Kids Cafe helps alleviate financial pressure on these agencies by providing food for children that attend.

The goal of Kids Cafe is to eliminate chronic childhood hunger. In addition to the meal, participants have access to a wide variety of enrichment activities that vary from site to site. After dinner, everyone pitches in to clean up.

“Thanks to Second Harvest, we are able to provide many more enrichment activities and our kids get hot meals every week they can count on.”  - Kids Cafe site coordinator

We currently operate Kids Cafe at 46 sites across 7 counties, serving 2,290 youth.

Click here for a Kids Cafe Brochure

Click here to email Sam Compton for more information or questions about Kids Cafe.