POLK COUNTY, Fla. — For over a decade, two dedicated lunch ladies dreamed of starting a food pantry inside their school to ensure no kid goes hungry; their hard work is finally paying off.
Cafeteria workers Kelly Vaughn and Christy Carrillo told ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska they are best friends. Less than a year ago, heartbroken by seeing kids who couldn't afford extra meals, they started a small pantry. It was two shelves and a dream.
"They just want extra, and they're asking for anything that we can give them, and seeing that for, you know, several years, this is just something that we always wanted to do but wasn't sure that we would be able to, you know, sustain, sustain it," Vaughn said. "I was always on the register, and the kids would come through, and they would say, 'Miss Kelly, can I have a little bit of extra of this?' It would always come out of my pocket. And, so my husband told me, he said, 'Kelly, we are not making a thing; you're gonna have to come off that register for us even to survive.'"
Vaughn works in rural Polk County at Ft. Meade Middle-Senior High School. She said all the students are special, but twin brothers Razele and Rafter Lozano inspired them to fight even harder for a bigger pantry.
"They are such a breath of fresh air when they come in," Vaughn said.
"The twins are just so funny when they come in because they're so different. We call one the snack twin and the other the meal twin. They come in looking for totally different things," Carrillo said.
Feeding Tampa Bay learned about the special bond between the twins and the lunch ladies and took action to sponsor the school through its Feeding Minds School Pantries program. This program provides nutritious and fresh groceries, free of charge, for the benefit of the entire household right inside local schools.
For Valentine's Day, the brothers gave Vaughn and Carrillo chocolates.
"We like to come in here, and it makes it feel like family," Razele Lozano said. "I'm glad that they do this for us, that we have an opportunity to come over here every Thursday to grab things we need at the house, try new things, and create stuff with these meals."
"Amazing people really always have a smile on their face. You know? Nice, come here and see them; it brightens my day up," Rafier Lozano said.
If you want to help ABC Action News in our Food for Families partnership with Feeding Tampa Bay, clickhere.
