Feeding hungry students is the mission for a small group of residents this holiday season.

Richard Franklin and Rebecca Birch are neighbors in the Austin Colony subdivision. Together, they’ve raised more than $700 to feed neighborhood kids.

“We've had more than 50 families out here already,” Franklin said. “That's a lot of mouths to feed. And yeah, we're going to do a lot more."

The husband-and-wife team is feeding school-aged children they say may be doing without during the winter break.

"We've seen kids taking home school lunches and putting it in their backpacks, taking it home when we were out visiting our son and it just broke our hearts,” Birch said. “We're trying to figure out what can we do? What can we do to make a difference in the neighborhood?"

Volunteers serve plates every other day between noon and 2 p.m. until kids get back to school.

"A lot of our schools are between 80 and 96 percent free and reduced lunches which means they may not get another meal if they are not at school," she said.

Birch understands those demographics well. The community activist also is a Del Valle school board trustee.

"It breaks my heart that there are kids that need this," Birch said.

The next meal will be served on Friday beginning at 12 p.m.