RIDAY FOODPACKS PROGRAM
More than 2,500 children qualify for the federal free or reduced-price meal program in the Shoreline School District. During the school week, most of these children depend on the meals their school offers. Sometimes, the meals at school are the only ones they get. When the school closes its doors on Friday afternoon, many of these children go home to empty cupboards and empty bellies for 65 hours until they return to school on Monday morning. Around the area, you’ll find many teachers who can tell you about a student who came to school on Monday, not reluctant to start the school week but eager to get back to school after going through Friday evening, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday without a square meal—or knowledge of a source for their next meal. Who will feed them this weekend?
The Friday Food Packs for Kids was born out of Lake Forest Park Presbyterian Church’s desire to ensure that children at Lake Forest Park and Brookside Elementary who are in need have balanced, nutritious food they need to learn and grow. The concept is simple: children at risk of weekend hunger receive a bag of food that is child-friendly, nutritious, nonperishable, and easy to prepare and eat.
Each Foodpack offers enough food that children can easily assemble into six healthy meals over the weekend when schools are unable to provide breakfasts or lunches. The Foodpacks are distributed to children in need through the schools—discreetly—each Friday morning or the day before a long holiday weekend.
For students in need, the program:
Provides nutrition
Eases anxieties
Reduces absenteeism
Improves attention span
Raises academic performance
Increases self esteem
Each food pack costs $8 per child per week, which adds up to $32 per month or $384 per year to support one child. Multiplied by 10, 20, or 50, these numbers can be significant -- and yet we have already seen what can happen when individuals come together and give sacrificially of their time and resources. Every contribution, big or small, collectively adds up to something quite astonishing. Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.
