HELENA – Helena Public Schools start on Wednesday, Aug. 29 and Helena Food Share is asking for the community to help support their Kid Pack program this school year.
Kid Packs are special distributions through Food Share that provide a source of weekend nutrition for students at risk of hunger.
“Helena Food Share uses them to target a real need in our community, kids that are going hungry,” said Executive Director Bruce Day.
The program was realized in 2009 to help struggling families and was initially only at one elementary school in Helena.
Since then the program has grown to serve over 1,000 students a week, and is present at every elementary school and Head Start program in Helena and East Helena.
Food Share staff say it is essential that children have some sort of nutrition over the weekend, so that they can function better at school.
“It’s especially tough on weekends since kids don’t have access to school lunch,” said Day.
Each Kid Pack costs around $3.25, and the annual cost of the program is more than $120,000.
According to Food Share, the Kid Pack program is just one way food share is committed to helping eliminate hunger year-round.
“People are hungry all year long, and while we think about it more maybe during the holidays, it’s just as important going back to school as it is during the holiday period,” said Day.
In 2017 Helena food share distributed over 39,000 Kid Packs to children in the greater Lewis and Clark area.
Food Share will be holding a kid pack food drive on Saturday Sep. 8 at Van’s Thriftway on Euclid Ave.
For more information about the programs Helena Food Share offers visit here.
