SOUTH BAY — The KTM (Kings Tutoring & Mentoring) Foundation Inc., in cooperation with Kings Catering/BElegant CreativEvents and a few other community partners, has been feeding hot meals to children and families at “The Bridge” on Wednesdays this summer.

The caterer company, which operates a food truck, is headed up by Samuel King, and he and his team have been doing this with extended family members almost since the public schools were closed in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said his sister Barbara, chief of KTM Foundation.

School essentials giveaway
Last Wednesday, Aug. 28, at the KTM Foundation’s new building dubbed The Bridge — located at 1025 Palm Beach Road in South Bay — they had a free hot meal giveaway like usual, only this time partnering with the organization All Nets Basketball Club, which gave out tote bags and school supplies.

It was the final one before school started virtually for Palm Beach County School District-enrolled children on Monday, Aug. 31. Public school classrooms are planned to open in the weeks after Labor Day with staggered groups returning to classes once the Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners decides the entire county is ready to enter Phase 2 of the governor’s step-by-step reopening plans.

Samuel King, owner of Kings Catering, is a retired custodian with the PBCSD for 42 years and is the 2019 National Life Group’s Life Changer Of The Year Winner.

“Sam is fulfilling his retirement goals of feeding children and families hot meals during times when there’s no school and during this pandemic,” Barbara King said.

‘Coach King’ has illustrious past
He’s known as “Coach King” among Glades residents, as he spent 34 years on the coaching staff for the Glades Central High School Raiders, winning five state championships.

The All Nets Basketball Club founders are Roy Hinson and Gartavian Black, who work for the catering company.

Back on Feb. 17, Barbara King posted a video on her Facebook page explaining their renovation of the building on Palm Beach Road. At the time it was still being shaped up, inside and out, to be a home for the KTM Foundation, the South Bay Jaguars football club, the All Nets Basketball Club and a new program they started in 2020 called YELP (Youth Empowerment Leadership Program), not to mention the KTM Community Resource Center.

That day, work still was being done inside, while workers including her cousin “Bubba” King, who was up on the roof, chimed in as she rounded the structure and narrated about where the various club decals or logos, and a mural, too, would go on the walls.

“They’re getting it prepped for those computers. Yes, we’re going to have 10 desktop or more computers for our youth to have access to the internet,” she related.

“We will have tutoring and mentoring, life skills and leadership (instruction groups), and adult literacy materials to pass out with information and referrals for adults that need any information about resources in the community. They will have access to (literacy) tutors. We will have the South Bay library (branch) here as well, where kids can come check out books, videos, movies.”

The Glades residents who have been joining in the recent activities at The Bridge, judging by the faces in the accompanying photographs, are mighty pleased.