TOLEDO, Ohio — The Toledo South Side Packers is a youth football team at Danny Thomas Park on Broadway Street that WTOL 11 spoke with when the staff fed the kids out of their own pockets after realizing they were coming to practice hungry.
But now, the team is changing.
"Our kids should not be going to bed hungry at night," Lartisha Williams said in May.
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Williams used to fire up the grill for the Packers after a long day of practice.
"I don't have to cook anymore," Williams said, describing the new partnership with Connecting Kids to Meals. "We put the application in and waited and finally we got the approval letter."
While Williams picks up the food, Coach Charles Randolph is on the field with the football players. The new partnership frees up funds for the team, too.
"Not having to spend the money for the food, now we can concentrate on making sure we're getting the right equipment," Randolph said. "Helmets, shoulder pads, mouthpieces, things like that."
Wendi Huntley, president and CEO of Connecting Kids to Meals, said the organization is happy to help feed the team.
"We've got them covered," Huntley said. "They came in and trained and we started meal service this week. It pains me that they were paying out of pocket."
It's something the program does with more than 150 other sites across the area, making about 6,000 balanced meals a day.
"We know for some of our kids that's the only meal they're going to get," Huntley said. "We make sure the meals are hearty, robust and, most importantly, that they're hot."
Randolph said it's great to feed the community he's from.
"They get to get something to eat, go home," Randolph said. "They know that we're going to be here. We're not leaving."
Randolph said the team practices every weekday and hopes to have its first game in September.