My named is Theresa Monforte-Caraballo and I am the Executive Director and Founder of Grandma's Love, Inc. Grandma's Love, Inc. is a 501c (3) nonprofit organization that is committed to empowering children by combating childhood hunger throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Over the many years of raising my children, my grandson and working in the many schools in Brooklyn and Staten Island, I began to see children asking for extra meals and realized that hunger was an issue with many of our school children. In realizing the need to help them, I began to think of ways this could happen.. I began to run a program call "Blessings in a Backpack" which identifies children in need and supplies them with food during the thirty-eight weeks of the school year and implemented it in a local elementary school. I ran this program for two years and realized the need for more than just 38 weeks of food and the other necessary items our children needed and decided to start "Grandma's Love, Inc." which will allow us to extend the Blessings program throughout the year. By working in conjunction with Blessings, Grandma's is not only able to extend the food program but supply other basic needs and help children start the school year with new supplies.
This may sound like an enormous task but with the support of local community members and business', private and public donors, corporate sponsors and various grants the dream of empowering children by combating hunger is possible.