CLINTON -- The Gateway Area Community Center is not only offering local youth the chance to socialize and learn from those around them, but is also serving as a place where they can get a warm meal.
Center Executive Director Jorge Landa Rodriguez operates the organization in which dozens of students utilize after school to participate in boxing, video games, and educational time to "just be kids," Rodriguez has stated. But the pantry operated out of the building at 1850 S. Bluff Blvd. is equally as important, he says.
"Food is knowledge, and knowledge is power," Rodriguez said last week.
The growth of the pantry has been heartwarming for Rodriguez, who has seen the community center's impact through his own eyes through the very start.
Literally expanding from the ground up, local youth have flocked to the center over recent months after hearing about the opportunities offered there.
"Me and my family, we practically live here at the center," Rodriguez said. "We seemed to always have something on the stove. So we started feeding two, then two turned in to four, which turned in to six, and you can see where it's gone from there."
Rodriguez and the center have partnered with the Riverbend Food Pantry, making the operation more cost-effective, and allowing for more widespread help to more students, Rodriguez said.
As with other initiatives offered at the center, the pantry is just another area in which Rodriguez and his family, along with others, can be there for those who need assistance.
"Now, we're going down to the Quad-Cities and picking up the things that will keep the kids well-fed," Rodriguez said. "By referral, if somebody comes in and they need an emergency food box, that's what we're here for. We'll never turn anybody away."
