End Childhood Hunger - Buy-a-Box of SnackPacks!
A study in the journal Pediatrics reported that, relative to their food-secure peers, children in food-insecure homes are more likely to have
- poor overall health;
- reduced immune system functioning;
- more communicable diseases
- poor body weight outcomes;
- asthma;
- higher rates of emergency room visits and health care use; and
- internalizing behavior problems, such as anxiety and depression.
Food insecurity derails a student’s concentration, memory, mood and motor skills — all of which children need to succeed in school, per the No Kid Hungry campaign. On average, students who eat school breakfast score 17.5% higher on standardized math tests and attend 1.5 more days of school each year relative to students who start the day hungry.
Weekend SnackPack & SnackPack Pantry
Although Federal Nutrition programs provide meals for students during the school week, weekends can be especially challenging. Weekend SnackPack and SnackPack Pantry were created to provide weekend food supplements to students who are identified by their teachers, creating food security for them over the weekend. With the support of partners, donors, and volunteers, United Way of Anderson County works hard to fill the weekend meal gap for these kids, solving their weekend hunger issue so they can return to school each Monday ready to learn.
Every week at the Second Harvest Food Bank warehouse, volunteers pack kid-friendly, ready-to-eat food items in bags. Boxes of SnackPacks are delivered to Anderson County elementary schools for the entirety of the school year. School staff then place the SnackPacks in children’s backpacks to be discreetly sent home each Friday. We currently serve 800 children in Anderson County every weekend.
The SnackPack Pantry program aimed at addressing hunger in our Anderson County middle schools. Each participating school gets a food pantry stocked with brand-name items that kids love. When a teacher sees a child is in need of something extra, they can offer a full bag of items from the pantry.
How can you help? Buy-a-Box!
Donate to the Buy-a-Box fundraiser now through the end of March! Each box provides 8 children with 4 meals each - enough food to supplement for a weekend!
Your donation will be doubled by a matching gift! A generous donor has offered a challenge match to help us raise $25,000. They will match all gifts up to that amount for a total of $50,000 to help feed children in Anderson County!
Help us reach our goal and DOUBLE THE IMPACT! Together we can fill 1,000 boxes!
