FOOD FOR OTHERS: School program takes off

Two years ago, Food for Others launched its Power Pack Program (P3), to provide weekend meals to school children at risk of weekend hunger. Schools offer free and reduced-price meals to children from low-income homes, but many of these children are on the own over the weekends. Weekend meals are uncertain as one or both parents works to keep up with rising costs in this Northern Virginia. Teachers have noted listless students on Mondays and school cafeterias has seen demand for Monday breakfasts and lunches surge compared to the rest of the week.

So Food for Others started P3. We are now in the program’s third year. We started with one school on a trial basis, quickly went up to eight in September 2012. In September 2013 we started with 27, and are now up to 29 schools. And there is a waiting list.

Food for Others is committed to expansion of P3. Volunteers do much of this work volunteers, including those who pack a P3 bag for each child and those who deliver bags to schools in your car or SUV – P3 is very labor intensive. Most volunteers can pack 10 bags an hour, and we project giving out over 72,000 P3 bags this school year. Bags need to be delivered weekly to schools, so volunteer drivers who can commit to one school for one year are a cornerstone of this work.

 As the program grows, we will need more volunteers. Nikki Clifford is the Volunteer Coordinator at Food for Others. Call her at 703-207-9173 or email her at nclifford@foodforothers.org.

Help P3 continue to grow!