Some families in Fort Worth may face a crisis this holiday weekend.
Some families in Fort Worth may face a crisis this holiday weekend.
The school district will offer its meals to go today, then not again until next Tuesday, April 14, when a new schedule goes into effect.
It's a crisis a small family-owned catering company is tackling head-on.
Donors and volunteers are helping Z's Cafe and Catering make and deliver 4,000 meals a week to Fort Worth ISD families.
"When Fort Worth ISD schools closed, we realized 82,000 kids are on free, reduced lunch and we wondered, 'What are they doing for food? If they're not getting it at school, are they getting it at home?', said owner Carlo Capua.
Capua said numbers from United Way of Tarrant County underscore the urgent mission to feed families.
"We're looking at over half a million people that are food insecure or hungry, and we have to do something," Capua said.
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With Capua's operation reduced yet food still in the kitchen's stock, he mobilized volunteers to get the food to those who need it.
"Sometimes we mobilize 15-20 volunteers to do a long assembly line of sandwiches for sack lunches, and then we, ourselves, personally, we pack it up and deliver it to families, to houses, maybe families who don't have access to get to one of the school pick up points, or we deliver straight to the Boys and Girls Clubs in Fort Worth and Arlington," Capua explained.
Capua calls it the Crisis Meal Project and businesses like the Blue Zones Project, Empire Roofing and Higginbotham along with individuals are backing his idea with donations of food, money or time.
A donation of $280 will feed a family of four for a week. A donation of $6000 will sponsor 1,200 meals.
And even on Easter Sunday, Capua and his team will be in the kitchen preparing meals and delivering them.
"Helping each other is woven into the fabric of Fort Worth and North Texas, and we're gonna do everything we can to make sure no one goes hungry during this uncertainty," he said.
