How it all started...
The feeling of true hunger is something most of us have never experienced.
For over a decade, it has been a passion of mine to serve those who face food insecurity. Since 2010, alongside other amazing people, I have looked for creative and cost-effective ways to help those who are food insecure. In 2019, we launched a “pay what you can” food truck and in 2021 we opened a “pay what you can” coffee shop. Through these two avenues, I was hopeful I could impact food insecurity in my community. But after several years of attempting to meet the need, I began wondering if the people being served were actually hungry. That's when I learned that focusing on children, through the school system, would ensure 100% of the meals given away were going to hungry people.
The reality is, not all children have the opportunity to visit a food truck or coffee shop where they can receive a free meal, and they can’t be responsible for going to the local food bank. So it was important to us that we got the food to them.
I had been wrestling with how to make this necessity a reality. In the summer of 2022, I looked down in a parking lot to find the wrapper of a prepackaged meal you’d buy at the grocery store stuck to the bottom of my shoe. At that moment, I knew we had to begin making ready-made meals that could be delivered to local elementary schools and placed in the kids’ book bags at that end of the day for them to take home and eat for dinner. It was then, that I knew, if we could get the meals into their book bags, we could get them into their bellies.
~Scott Newton, President and CEO of Hopefulls, Inc.
For over a decade, it has been a passion of mine to serve those who face food insecurity. Since 2010, alongside other amazing people, I have looked for creative and cost-effective ways to help those who are food insecure. In 2019, we launched a “pay what you can” food truck and in 2021 we opened a “pay what you can” coffee shop. Through these two avenues, I was hopeful I could impact food insecurity in my community. But after several years of attempting to meet the need, I began wondering if the people being served were actually hungry. That's when I learned that focusing on children, through the school system, would ensure 100% of the meals given away were going to hungry people.
The reality is, not all children have the opportunity to visit a food truck or coffee shop where they can receive a free meal, and they can’t be responsible for going to the local food bank. So it was important to us that we got the food to them.
I had been wrestling with how to make this necessity a reality. In the summer of 2022, I looked down in a parking lot to find the wrapper of a prepackaged meal you’d buy at the grocery store stuck to the bottom of my shoe. At that moment, I knew we had to begin making ready-made meals that could be delivered to local elementary schools and placed in the kids’ book bags at that end of the day for them to take home and eat for dinner. It was then, that I knew, if we could get the meals into their book bags, we could get them into their bellies.
~Scott Newton, President and CEO of Hopefulls, Inc.
Expanding the vision...
Hopefulls, Inc. is currently serving seven schools located in North Carolina, but we know the need is much bigger. Our vision is to grow the program throughout the state of North Carolina and other regions of the country to one day serve every elementary school in America that has a need.
We believe every child in America deserves to eat and for every school we can serve, we are one step closer to solving childhood hunger.
We believe every child in America deserves to eat and for every school we can serve, we are one step closer to solving childhood hunger.