Look what you did!💙
On Saturday, October 3rd, after weeks of fundraising, shopping, and preparation, just over 20 wonderful people came together with SHL to pack meals for children facing hunger. Together, we packed hundreds of nutritious meat-based and vegetarian meals, no-cook meals, and healthy snack packs.
The idea was to distribute the meals to area Title 1 schools, to go home with children in their backpacks. Children in need are already known to school nurses and guidance counselors, so we know the meals will go where they will do the most good. Two schools have already received their first allocation of food, and we plan to restock those pantries when needed.
The nurse at one of these schools shared that, this year, the school’s families lost critical nutritional support from a local agency due to significant funding cuts by the Trump regime. That school has a minority enrollment of over 95% and every student is considered economically disadvantaged. Far too many of these students are also identified as McKinney-Vento Students, –children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including those living in shelters, motels, cars, doubled-up with others because of housing loss, or other temporary situations. The federal McKinney-Vento Act protects their access to school, including immediate enrollment and support to reduce barriers to attendance and educational stability.
Since the cruelty of this administration just never seems to end, our dedication to helping the most needy in our community must not either. Saturday was our first attempt to help hungry kids, but it won’t be the last. Many lessons were learned, and next time we’ll get more for our dollars using corporate and community partnerships, we’ll try to pack at a destination school instead of carting food to the library to be packed and we’ll pack more no-cook meals for families that don’t have access to a kitchen.
We would like to make this an open-ended, ongoing project, but to do that we need support. If you are able, please consider using the Zeffy link below to make a recurring monthly donation to ensure we can continue. One time donations are, of course, welcome. Use the same link and adjust settings as appropriate. Any amount helps! And keep an eye out for our next packing party. We hope you will join us in our endeavor to fight food insecurity and prevent child hunger in our community. We will make good use of your time, treasure or talent (or, if you’re able, all three!)