Food bank asks for help to keep children fed

School break can mean fewer meals for some

Harvest Regional Food Bank is partnering with a variety of programs to ensure children have food to eat this summer, and the need is great.

"All of our pantries across the board see an increase in children coming through the doors in the summer months, especially because many of the families who use the pantries have kids on free and reduced breakfast and lunch during the school year," said Camille Wrinkle, Harvest executive director.

Once school is out, families provide approximately 10 more meals a week per child, a tough task for food-insecure homes.

"When school is out and kids are not receiving the assistance, families have to seek out other support or come up with those meals on their own.

"We have sites in our service area that have summer programs for kids, and we provide snacks for those programs. They also come to us to get food for their summer feeding programs," Wrinkle said.

"In addition we are partnering with a couple of sites who are doing a summer feeding program during the week and providing kids backpacks full of food to take home on the weekends."

Wrinkle said the need goes up significantly in the summer.

"The need goes up at least 25 percent in the summer because families are providing more meals at home," Wrinkle said.

The community can help make sure Harvest Regional Food Bank can meet the increased need by donating food or money. Every $10 donation will provide 55 meals.

"What we're able to do depends on how much funding we have," Wrinkle said. "While we welcome donations of food and funds, when we receive a dollar, we're able to turn that dollar into 5 1/2 meals because of purchasing power through the Feeding America Network and other food banks across the nation that we might go in with for joint purchases. We also work with local retail partners like Walmart and Sam's Club to pick up surplus items from them several times a week."

To make a donation, visit Harvestregionalfoodbank.org and click on "Ways to give." Donations can also be mailed to P.O. Box 707, Texarkana, Texas, 75504 or dropped off at 3120 E. 19th St., Texarkana, Ark.

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