Did you know an entire room in our church basement is filled with applesauce, apple juice, oatmeal, raisins, soup, and pasta dishes? Did you know “shelf stable” milk does not need refrigeration, and more importantly comes in chocolate and strawberry flavors?! Our church is home to these food items that are needed to keep 27 Stockton children from hunger on weekends. The number of children participating in the program has grown exponentially this semester.
For a child to participate in the program, the school teachers or school nurse make a recommendation that the child’s family could use the assistance. The parents must then sign up for the program and identify allergies. The school relays the information on number of children and allergies to Kim Hammons, Nancy Smith or Angela Drake.
Each Thursday, volunteers pack bags that are delivered to the school for distribution to the children. The bags contain enough food for two breakfasts, two hot lunches and snacks. A typical two-day weekend bag contains two milks, oatmeal, Cheerios, raisins, mac ‘n cheese, green beans, Jell-O, vegetable beef soup, applesauce, pudding, granola bar, cheese and crackers, and apple juice.
Sometimes our trusty volunteers pack for three- and four-day weekends which means there is more than one bag per child. Add allergies to the mix and it requires quite a bit of logistics to get everything to the school in the proper order!
Nancy Smith is the brains behind all the ordering, inventory and money keeping. She also plans the menus, so that the packers can come in and get to work. Packers include many wonderful women in our church, as well as women from the Catholic Church. High school students in the STEP program are also signed up to pack.
The packers also take the time to break down all the boxes and cut off all Best Choice labels so we can earn additional money. Chris Levi handles cardboard box recycling. Of course Brad Hailey at Woods is instrumental in ordering the food.
The Tiger Tasters program started in 2010 with seed money from an anonymous donor and received over $11,000 in funding from various sources during its first year. During the fall 2010 semester, the program provided bags of food for all Head Start children and their siblings. The program was launched directly into the Stockton R-1 School District for the 2010-2011 school year. Food bills at Woods have been as high as $2,631.02 and average around $500 a shot. A lot of oatmeal goes through our doors! The pantry is stocked now, hopefully through March 2011.
Volunteer packers are welcome; contact Kim Hammons or Angela Drake for training if you want to pack. Financial contributions are also welcome; checks can be made payable to Local Missions—Backpack. SUMC is connecting people with Jesus Christ, one food bag at a time. Join the effort.