Community Pantry offers weekend food bags for children
When summer rolls around in San Benito County, Mary Anne Hughes
worries. As the executive director of Community Pantry, she knows
that some of her clients rely on the free breakfast and lunch
programs run through the local schools to keep their children
fed.
In past years, they have put together kids’ bags during the
summer
– basically a bag of kid-friendly snacks to last children of
clients throughout the week.
Community Pantry offers weekend food bags for children
When summer rolls around in San Benito County, Mary Anne Hughes worries. As the executive director of Community Pantry, she knows that some of her clients rely on the free breakfast and lunch programs run through the local schools to keep their children fed.
In past years, they have put together kids’ bags during the summer – basically a bag of kid-friendly snacks to last children of clients throughout the week.
“Doing the kids bags cost a lot of money,” Hughes said. “A lot of what is donated, we can’t use. We can’t give them rice or beans. It costs more money to buy the products they need.”
It is a constant need. In April, Community Pantry staff and volunteers served an all-time record number of clients, with 1,393 families stopping by on an average week. While monetary donations have remained steady, food donations have declined.
This summer, though, there are two ways chronically hungry children can fill their bellies. The Hollister School District is offering a free summer lunch program on weekdays at seven sites in Hollister for any kid under age 18. Now, thanks to a grant and donations, Community Pantry is working with the summer school programs to send a backpack with a bag of snacks to tide them over for the weekend.
The summer school session will be a pilot of the program, and if all goes well, it will continue when the regular school year starts.
“I worked with school principals and advocates for kids in trouble and asked if we could do this,” Hughes said.
The bulk of $25,000 for the program came from a grant from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.
Hughes has already purchased the backpacks and they will cost about $5 a week per child to fill with food. The goal is to distribute 500 backpacks during the pilot program.
“This is for the child who is chronically hungry,” Hughes said. “We have a list of criteria.”
Hughes will talk to teachers and school coordinators about how to identify the most needy kids. Some signs of chronic hunger include rushing to the front of food lines, asking when the next meal will be frequently, or kids who talk about not having enough to eat at home. Once teachers identify children, a note will go home to parents to ask if they would like to sign up for the program.
Then when they are enrolled, the kids will take their backpack home each Friday, and return with it the next Friday for another bag of food.
“Any way to get food to these kids – anyway we can duplicate it is not a bad thing,” Hughes said, of the two summer programs. “When it comes to feeding kids it’s not bad.”
To donate money or food supplies to Community Pantry, or to find out more about enrolling in the program, visit 1133 San Felipe Dr. in Hollister, call 637-0340 or visit www.communitypantry.com.
