Air Liquide Volunteers at Kids' Meals Inc.

Sporting their bright blue volunteer shirts, 30 Air Liquide employees recently gathered at Kids’ Meals to help end childhood hunger in Houston. According to official statistics, nearly 1 in 4 children in Harris County is food insecure - meaning they lack consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Without proper nutrition, these children are not only hungry, but also at higher risk for serious negative impacts on their growth and development. 

Eager to get to work, the group split in two: Kitchen workers, including executive assistants and Bayport employees, donned caps and gloves to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese tacos, and pack trail mix. The LI Reliability Team filled lunch bags decorated with cartoons, festive drawings and messages of support. 

Our volunteers collectively donated 60 hours, preparing about 600 sandwiches, 600 tacos, 600 bags of trail mix and filled 2,400 lunch bags.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of small agencies like Kids’ Meals. Without them, the nonprofit would not be able to provide the resources the community so desperately needs. The agency delivers nearly 6,000 meals each workday. They also deliver a bag of groceries each Friday to help the families get through the weekend. 

Once the lunch bags are complete, each child receives a nutritious meal complete with a sandwich or taco, trail mix, fruit or protein snack, and bottled water that would be distributed over the next two days. The agency’s 12 vans begin their routes at 8:30 a.m., delivering meals to 46 zip codes in Harris and Montgomery counties. Their day ends around 3:00 in the afternoon.

Volunteer Manager Monique Saldana explained that families they serve don’t have access to healthy, affordable food options and live in “food deserts” with the closest grocery store 10-to-15 miles away. Many families resort to purchasing food from gas stations. 

Kids’ Meals can feed a child for under $2.00 through donations and partnerships with vendors. “We can make your donations go a long way,” Saldana told the group. Founded in 2006, Kids’ Meals helps fill the gap for young children who haven’t reached school age where they can receive breakfast and lunch through free or reduced-cost meal programs.

Employees in Houston and Dallas, who weren’t able to attend the event decorated lunch bags aimed at brightening the deserving children’s day!

“It was shocking to learn how many children in the Houston area are in need of a nourishing meal. It was heartwarming to know that we all could help out this amazing organization,” said Jennifer Armstrong, the lead who organized the Reliability Team. “This was an excellent opportunity for our team to go out, do something enjoyable AND give something back to the community.”

Social Media

Yesterday 30 of our employees, from executive assistants + Bayport plant staff, to LI reliability engineers + managers, volunteered at @KidsMealsInc. They prepared:
? 600 sandwiches
? 600 tacos
? 600 bags of trail mix ...and filled 2,400 bags! Thanks Kids' Meals for having us! pic.twitter.com/fNU45To7jt

— Air Liquide USA (@AirLiquideUSA) October 6, 2022