Published: September 13, 2008 05:00 pm            

Helping hungry children

During the school year, children from families who are “food insecure” can at least count on having breakfast and lunch at school during the week.

Many, however, will have few meals during the weekend.

Jeff Newton, director of Kokomo Urban Outreach, said his group hopes to help those children by sending home bags of groceries with children from Elwood Haynes Elementary.

The group had a pilot program called EAT, or Everyone Ate Today, for a month at the end of the 2007-08 school year, sending home a bag containing the beginnings of six meals each weekend with any child whose parents signed up to receive one.

Newton said parents did not have to provide proof of income to receive groceries, so that no child need be embarrassed by accepting them.

“Since we’re offering it to everyone, it really doesn’t matter,” Newton said.

He said about 80 percent of the children at the school receive free or reduced lunch.

Now, planners are trying to raise money to provide the bags of groceries again, at an estimated cost of $10 per child per month, or $90 per child for the school year.

The group buys the groceries through the Food Finders food bank in Lafayette.

Newton said he’s seeking people to sponsor a child, and they can start sending home the bags when they have enough sponsors for 150 children. Right now he has sponsors for about 50, and estimates about 300 children will be served through the program.

David Barnes, Kokomo-Center Schools public relations consultant, said Family Worship Center has helped at Columbian Elementary, providing backpacks of school supplies and distributing groceries to students.

At Bon Air Elementary, Principal Marilyn Ritchie said First Christian Church has expanded its “Building Blocks” program from first grade to include second- and third-graders as well.

Parents of any child in those grades who qualifies for free and reduced lunch may sign up to receive a free backpack of food each weekend.

The church sponsored a five-week pilot program at the end of the 2007-08 school year, and about 15 children participated. Planners purchased food through Food Finders, spending about $5 per week per child on non-perishable foods such as juice boxes, shelf milk, cans of soup and Spaghetti-Os, cereal, canned vegetables and peanut butter.

Eastern High School Assistant Principal Craig Standish said First United Methodist Church in Greentown is preparing to start a program to help families who nearly qualify for free and reduced lunch at school.

He said the church wants to put money in the lunch accounts of a half dozen or so children, so their parents can take care of other family expenses and not have to worry about paying for lunch.

The program would help some students who need the help but just barely don’t qualify for federal assistance.

“Every kid should be able to come to school and get something to eat,” he said. “The kids are so much more effective in school if their stomachs aren’t growling ... We don’t want people to have to make a decision, ‘Do I give my kid money for lunch, or do I put gas in the car to go to work?’”

He said parents will be asked for permission before money is placed in their child’s lunch account, and nobody other than the family will know the child has received the help.

Standish said the Greentown community has many resources for Eastern’s students, including a food pantry at Jerome Christian Church, canned food drives for local families at the schools, Christmas food baskets from the Lions Club and a paper goods pantry at the United Methodist Church.

Standish said the township trustees are a good source for people in the area, because they can refer them to these resources.

For more information on sponsoring a child through Kokomo Urban Outreach, e-mail urban.outreach@ gmail.com or call (765) 461-9618. Checks may be sent to Kokomo Urban Outreach, 1701 S. Locke St., Kokomo, 46902.

To support the Bon Air Building Blocks program, call First Christian Church at (765) 457-4491.

        

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