Stanly County Juvenile Restitution Program has received $500 from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation just in time to help feed local residents.

Stanly County Juvenile Restitution Program will use the gift to provide breakfast, lunches and snacks to kids who show up to do court-ordered community service without anything to eat for the day.

I wanted to take the time to tell the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation how thankful and grateful we are for the $500 grant that was awarded to our program.

The Stanly County Juvenile Restitution Program is a monetary restitution and community service program that provides juveniles with the opportunity to be held accountable for their actions to the community and/or victim(s) through performing supervised community service work and/or monetary payment within the timeline stipulated in the court order or diversion contract.

The program allows the juvenile to work in order to make restitution to a victim, thereby making the juvenile accountable for his/her actions.

By making the juvenile “pay” for his/her actions, rather than the parent, this helps to reduce family conflict. Supervising juveniles while working in the community forces them to act responsibly, work with prosocial peers and adults, and learn to respect authority figures, build communication skills, develop independent living skills, and build self-esteem and respect.

In turn, these skills help alleviate persistent behavioral problems. Holding juveniles accountable for delinquent acts can help deter repeat offenses.

The restitution program also works with juveniles who have been suspended from school.

This helps to eliminate delinquent behaviors while juveniles are out on school suspensions, as well as make the juveniles do something more constructive with his/her time.

The ultimate goal of the program is to reduce delinquent behaviors, deter further penetration into the juvenile justice system, and to teach accountability to referred juveniles.

The money is greatly needed to assist with breakfasts, lunches and snacks for the kids whose parents struggle in providing theses meals for their kids while at community service.

Kids who are provided a healthy breakfast, lunch and snack are able to concentrate throughout the day on completing tasks while at community service.

In turn, these kids will have a successful, productive day compared to those who are trying to do community service tasks while hungry.

Thanks again for granting us this money to our organization. Our kids are our future and what we invest in them now is what we expect the outcome will hold for us in the future.

Established in 2001, the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to feeding the hungry in the communities it serves.

Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $12 million in grants.

Shelly Kersey,
executive director,

Stanly County Juvenile Restitution Program