LAKELAND, Fla. — Mary's Bagel Café opened its doors in January to bring something missing to Lakeland's midtown neighborhood.
“It was residential. We had four homes up here. Me and my husband decided, instead of selling [the land], to put a café here,” said Denise Gilmore, owner of Mary's Bagel Café.
Six months later, the café is addressing another need in the community... child hunger.
“Some kids only eat during school time, breakfast and lunch, and kids go home, and they don’t eat,” Gilmore said.
Recent data shows the number of food-insecure children in Polk County has doubled. Now that school is out for the summer, many children will have difficulty finding a meal.
Mary's Bagel Café is giving free lunches to kids this summer. The food is purchased using tips from patrons.
“Customers, they were trying to give us tips. I decided let’s do a tip jar and do a summer program for the kids,” Gilmore said.
The summer lunch program provides a nutritious meal for kids ages 5 to 18 every Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sophia Nevarez worked with children and families in the Polk County area and said she sees the need for this program every day.
“There’s a lot of times where I see families, all they can afford are less nutritious things because that’s what’s available to them. This is very helpful, especially for people with larger families,” Nevarez said.
Gilmore would like more businesses to help fill the gap and commit to feeding children in the community.
“I’m going to keep this program going every year as long as I have breath in my body, and I would like other businesses in the area to do the same thing I'm doing,” Gilmore said.