RISON - With the 2023-24 school year coming to a close this week, Melinda McKnight of the Cleveland County Care Fund said her organization will continue to looks for ways to get food to those young people who need it while school is out.The Cleveland County Care Fund is perhaps most recognized for its efforts during the holidays to provide Christmas for those needy families in the county. However, McKnight said the organization works throughout the year to help pro-vide food, clothing and other necessities to those children in need.McKight said the Care Fund focuses almost exclusively on local young people. She said all the recipients served through the Care Fund are referrals from local schools, churches and the Cleveland County Department of Human Services (DHS) office. McKnight explained that teachers, school administrators, churches and local DHS staff have a better understanding of who really needs help, and those needs are passed along to the Care Fund.With students being dismissed for the summer break this week, McKnight said it will be a challenge for the Care Fund to reach those students who will need food and other necessities during the summer. To address that, McKnight said the Care Fund will host some public food distributions throughout the summer as well as work with the local high school coaches to identify any students participating in summer workouts who may need help.While most of their fundraising takes place during the holiday season, McKnight said they appreciate cash donations throughout the year to help maintain funding for food, clothing and other necessities. She said donations of any size are accepted.Since nearly all the support goes to youth, McKnight said they primarily get food that kids can eat from the package or prepare by themselves at home. Therefore, she said most of the food they hand out to children are items like cereal, toaster pastries, etc.McKnight said the Care Fund will be hold...
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