TAKE A BREAK: Food for Thought

In what's being called the worst economy since the great depression, it probably comes as no surprise that hunger is a growing concern around the country.

But in our own backyard?

It can be a pretty emotional discovery.

Stephanie Petit, of the Old Daley Inn, says when she first offered to assist the ''Feed a Kid'' program in Troy, she figured she'd only be feeding kids, until she realized the need was far greater.

"I said what happens if you have leftovers," Petit recalls, "and they said oh we don't have leftovers the parents wait."

It was a chance meeting she had with Pastor Willie Bacotte, who runs the program. Stephanie took a wrong turn one day and there he was.

"This was truly God ordained," Bacotte says.

The pastor started the Feed a Kid program one year ago with plans to offer meals to hungry children 3 days a week. It wasn't easy making it happen.

"I can remember the day that stephanie drove up to the Feed a Kid program and she got out of the car and said 'reverend, I've been looking for you" Bacotte says, "and i can remember tears coming out of my eyes when she said that to me."

Jim Pettit, co-owner of Old Daley Inn and Stephanie's husband, was a little wary when she first told him about the free meals she wanted to hand out.  It was a tough call in the midst of a recession.

The amount of food the Old Daley Inn gives to the Feed a Kid program would typically net them about a thousand dollars from a client. That's a lot to give away and they wondered how they could do it every week.

Now they wonder how could they not.

"It was really a David and Goliath thing," says Jim.  "The need was so big and there was so little help in it and yet they were pulling it together and I just got swept into it.

Swept into it to the tune of about $52,000 a year.

They still wish they could do more.

No wonder Bacotte is singing their praises.

"I cannot say enough for what Old Daley and its employees have done for the Feed a Kid program."