From the March 25, 2020 issue of
The Journal
By Richard Harris
During the state-mandated school closures, Heart to Heart, the nonprofit organization run by Alex Hadley, is teaming up with the Marion County School System to provide meals to students.
The school system is providing the food and Heart to Heart is assembling the meals (making sandwiches, etc. from the supplies) and delivering them. As of Tuesday, they were serving 239 meals per day.
It's been a big job, but but Hadley says she is very happy to have the opportunity to serve the community in this way.
"Right now we only have a few volunteers preparing all of the meals, because we want to take precautions by having only a small number of people involved," said Hadley.
There are also several volunteers who are handling the delivery of the meals.
For students who live inside the Buena Vista City Limits, the meals are being delivered to their homes. Those outside of the city limits can choose one of two pick-up locations – Oakland IGA in the Oakland Community or Morgan Grocery in Tazewell. The meals arrive at the locations around 11 a.m. Monday through Friday.
While the school system is providing the food, she said Heart to Heart could still use donations of items like brown bags and ziplock bags.
Anyone who would like to make a donation (or any student's family that may still need info on the program) may contact Alex Hadley via Facebook or by calling her at 229-314-9331.