Here's how the Knoxville nonprofit Thrive feeds kids spiritually and physically

In the heart of the Lonsdale neighborhood on Connecticut Avenue, Lonsdale Elementary School students make their way to the Thrive After School program.

When they get there, staff and volunteers are ready to help them with homework, play games and feed them a warm, home-cooked meal.

Thrive provides vital after-school programming for Knoxville's kids of all ages across several Knoxville neighborhoods, including Lonsdale, New Hopewell, Papermill, Parkridge and West View.

This year, the program is one of the recipients of Knox News' and its parent company's A Community Thrives grants.

The grant program financially supports community-building initiatives across the country, and Thrive is one of the more than 200 local nonprofit organizations receiving grants of up to $25,000. Thrive received $6,000.

Holly Kizer, the assistant development coordinator at Thrive, shared with Knox News the nonprofit's mission and how the organization is feeding Knoxville's youth − physically and spiritually.

How did Thrive first get started?

Kizer: Thrive was started as SOAR Youth Ministries in 1998, and over the past 20 years has grown from one location in Lonsdale to five different locations across the city of Knoxville.

Our purpose is to provide for the spiritual, emotional, academic and physical needs of at-risk youth. We do that by providing academic tutoring and various other opportunities, such as STEM electives, programming, baking and more, to expose at-risk youth to opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise.

A major part of our program is providing a nutritious meal and snack for the youth in our program daily. We do that through our community gardens. It is this beautiful, nutritious meal hand prepared by our kitchen garden manager. The students eat family style, so they sit at tables with their peers, interns and volunteers who prepare and serve the food. For a lot of kids, this is kind of their family where they go after school until they go to bed at night at home.

What inspired you to launch other Thrive locations beyond the Lonsdale community?

I think it's pretty evident that there's a need here in Lonsdale. But when you look around the city, there's truly a need in every neighborhood. Volunteers from churches are saying, "Come to us, let the kids come after school. We want to help and we want to provide a safe place for them." We aren't associated with a specific church, but rather have a Christ-centered mission and have partnered with about 30 different churches.

We have a location off of the Papermill exit, we have a new Hopewell location, we're in Westview, and we've even expanded Lonsdale to serve kids through high school. That was a request from the kids because after elementary school, they were like, "Well, where do we go once we're in middle school?"

I think that will be an essential part of just continuing to grow. I think when you think about a city the size of Knoxville, we're larger than I think people realize. But there is truly a need, and there's a need in every neighborhood for a safe place and healthy meals. It's our whole city. It's not just one neighborhood and one community, it's all of our responsibility as a city to take care of these kids.

Your website says students spend an average of 700 hours in the Thrive program a year. Why is this time so important?

With Thrive, we aren't serving 2,000 kids; we're serving about 240 kids. We're really digging deep with these kids. They are not just a number coming through; they all have names and they all have stories. We're praying for them, working with their families and investing in their lives. Several of our staff members live in the Lonsdale neighborhood and are truly invested in their lives. Once you provide for the spiritual, physical and academic needs of a child, you're showing them that someone does care and someone's there to care about them. They are special. They are important.

How has your organization evolved since you started more than 20 years ago?

With the number of people moving to Knoxville growing, we've grown to better serve other communities. Knoxville has a lot of great services that are offered. We have a large immigrant population, and we also have a large refugee population. We see a lot of different kids where English is not the language that's spoken in their home, and it's not necessarily Spanish that's spoken either.

How will Thrive use the A Community Thrives grant?

The grant money will be used for our Thrive After School program to provide academic tutors, electives for students to broaden their knowledge, and nutrient-rich meals daily.

Other A Community Thrives grants: Joy of Music School brings together free lessons and mentorship

What are some of the challenges of running a program like this?

Staffing. Our college interns get new schedules, so we're constantly hiring and every semester we're looking for great interns.

Communicating with parents is definitely a challenge. Developing that relationship with the families so they can trust us and show that we're all here to help their kids and provide them with the best possible outcomes.

Communication barriers are present, especially with different languages and the fact that we don't have anyone that can readily translate for us.

These kids are going through a lot, and I think that can sometimes be draining for staff. We do have part-time a development and care staff whose goal is to really just feed into this staff and provide Bible studies and resources for them and kind of be a sounding board for them as well.

What keeps you and your organization going? Why do you do what you do?

When you see these kids' faces that are smiling and happy to be at Thrive, they are happy and joyful and hang on to every word you say when you're reading a story or helping them with a project, raise their hand at dinner for more food and bow their heads to pray, I always tell people that's why. We all need to pitch in and we can all help, and they need it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville nonprofit Thrive feeds kids spiritually and physically