Lunch Buddies: Sharing More Than a Meal

By Amanda Castro-Crist

Every week, several volunteers spend their break at Bean Elementary in East Lubbock. As part of the Communities in Schools Lunch Buddies program, volunteers act as mentors to kindergarten through fifth grade students.

Bonding with a lunch buddy can lead to a student opening up about situations at school and at home that can then be acknowledged and resolved. But while there are many benefits of participating in the program, most of the tables in the Bean Cafe sit empty each day. Currently, only nine volunteers visit the school each week. The number of students waiting for a Buddy is more than twice that.

Site Coordinator Ruth Davis and her intern, Texas Tech social work major Kristin Gottwald, want to change that.

About JOUR 3312