HOUSTON – The Red Nose Day fundraising campaign believes child poverty is more than a lack of resources or money.
“It's hunger, it's the inability to get an education or healthcare,” according to the campaign.
It exists within in our Houston-area community, and that's why NBC and KPRC have annually worn the red nose for three years.
Since inception, Red Nose Day has raised $100 million and impacted more than 8 million children by funding vaccines, clean water and because the organization says girls are particularly vulnerable to extreme poverty in terms of health, education, and safety, Red Nose Day focuses on girls and young women.
The Houston Food Bank and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston (BGCGH) get support from your Red Nose contributions.
Mark Martin with the Boys and Girls Clubs said the contributions fund their summer program which gives at-risk kids in our area a place to go all summer for tutoring from 9 a.m to 5:30 p.m. Plus, they provide the children with lunch and snacks.
“Ninety-eight percent of our youth live in underserved communities. Ninety-two percent are on free and reduced lunch,” Martin said. “These are youth that are normally participating in the free lunch program. Our goal is to make sure that they have the same access to food as they would have as participants in the free lunch program, which is why during the summer the direction that we're headed in the next two weeks, we ensure that those youth are fed and go home without food and securities.”
The BGCGH summer program begins June 4.
Here's where to find which of the 14 BGCGH locations are near you.
NBC's star-studded night of Red Nose programming is on KPRC2 airs Thursday at 9 p.m.