The Woodward News

Local News

August 11, 2012

Food for Kids continues to expand

Brandi Thomas Woodward News

Woodward, Okla. — Dozens of local elementary students would go hungry over weekends during the school year if it wasn't for the Food for Kids program.

Sponsored by the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (RFBO), Food for Kids "provides chronically hungry children, identified by school personnel, with backpacks filled with non-perishable, kid-friendly food to eat on weekends and school holidays," according to the RFBO website regionalfoodbank.org.

Currently a fundraising drive is being held state-wide to benefit the Food for Kids program in its efforts to help keep young students from going hungry.  As part of this drive, all tax-deductible donations made through Sept. 30 to Food for Kids will be matched up to $100,000.

According to an RFBO press release, the matching funds are provided thanks to donations from Trusted Choice, Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma, Top of the World and an anonymous family donor.



HOW THE PROGRAM GOT STARTED

Lisa Perry, manager of regional giving with the RFBO, said that the Food for Kids was started when a principal from an Oklahoma City school told them about a boy that had passed out in the lunch line and stated the only thing he had to eat over the weekend was a hot dog.

"That was when we started the backpack program, where students are given enough food to last them through the weekend," Perry said.

For students to be placed on the program, it is up to the teachers to watch for signs during meals and in the classroom that a child might be chronically hungry, Perry said.

"We ask teachers to watch the children to see if any are going through the lunch lines two or three times and asking others for their leftovers and putting them in their pockets," she said.



PROGRAM STATISTICS

"The first year we started the program we had 5 schools, that were primarily in the Oklahoma City area," Perry said. "The program has grown and we now have 475 schools in 53 counties in central and western Oklahoma."

She said the Food Bank is looking to expand the entire Food for Kids program even more this year.

Last year in Woodward County, 93 students were helped by the program, she said.

Besides the backpack program, which is geared toward elementary aged students, there is a Food for Kids School Pantry Program that is geared toward high school and middle school students, by providing them with food to sustain them both after school and on weekends, Perry said.

"We purchase the food by the box car, our volunteers sort, bag and seal the food and then it is shipped to the participating schools. Once the schools receive the food, it is then distributed as discreetly as possible to the students," she said.

Perry said Food for Kids "is the largest program we run out of our office here in Oklahoma City."



HOW YOU CAN HELP

To donate to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, you can mail a check to P.O Box 270968, Oklahoma City, OK 73137 or visit their website at www.regionalfoodbank.org.   Make all checks out to Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

"If you want to make sure your money stays in Woodward County, in the memo line write 'Food for Kids, Woodward County,'" Perry said.

Again, for those who donate before Sept. 30, their donation will be doubled thanks to a matching donation program, which will match up to a total of $100,000.

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