Food is a school supply for hungry kids
Since nutrition affects cognitive, social and emotional development, children who do not get proper foods are more likely to have problems learning, growing and interacting. Erin's Angels ensures that children who rely on subsidized lunches continue to receive food vital to their growth and development.
There is an immediate need to assist in combating food insecurity for elementary students in the Phoenix Central School District in order to ensure student focus on academic success. Hunger can greatly affect a student’s performance in school. Children who skip meals and are hungry perform poorer than their peers who have consistent access to food. Hunger has been linked to lower math scores, increased potential to repeat or fail a grade, and affected attendance to class.
Approximately 14% of individuals in food insecure homes indicated that at least one person went without eating over the weekend. This greatly affects the demeanor of the children in these situations. A study in the impact of similar backpack food programs displayed an change in elementary students: teachers indicated that students receiving food packages were better behaved, more attentive, and engaged in lessons.
53.4% of students in the Oswego county public school system receive free or reduced price lunch during the school year. Many of these students rely on these meals as their main meals throughout the week. When some of these students go home for the weekend, their meals are very uncertain. Over extended breaks, like Spring Break, which can last ten days or more, the amount of food and number of meals is severely affected.
It is through your funding that we can ensure that the qualifying children are able to be sent home with a sufficient amount of food to last extended breaks. Currently, Erin’s Angels works with 70 students weekly to ensure they are sent home with food to supplement and provide meals while they aren’t in school. In order to provide these services, and extend services to 33 more students, Erin’s Angels needs additional funding in order to continue providing and growing their services.
