The PORCH story begins some 700 miles away in Christine Cotton’s North Carolina home. Her son Matthew asked her to make sandwiches for a classmate who didn’t have enough food to eat.

It isn’t easy for most parents to convince their kids to eat nutrient-rich foods. ConnectFamilias, a Miami-Dade nonprofit, which serves mostly Hispanic families and promotes opportunities for children, came up with a clever way to help parents by pure happenstance during a pre-pandemic food distribution.