United Way's Kids Pack program helps feed underprivileged children

 

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Fontana Herald News
By SHEL SEGAL

It should be no secret by now that thousands of children in San Bernardino County — many of them right here in Fontana — live in poverty and do not have enough food to eat, especially on the weekend. But luckily, someone is doing something about it.

Working in partnership with the Fontana Unified School District, the Inland Empire United Way has started the Kids Pack program through the KidSmart initiative to help feed these underprivileged kids on the weekends.

Lorraine Ousley, director of education and health initiatives for the chapter, said the program has been very successful.

“It basically provides a backpack of nutritious food over the weekend for homeless and very low income kids,” Ousley said. “There’s a need. We have one in five kids in this region who live in poverty.”

Not just do the kids get fed something nutritious, but there are other positive impacts of this program as well, Ousley said.

“We also looked at the negative impact of the kids who are hungry,” she said. “They miss more school. They’re less attentive. They have behavior problems. So, the schools definitely see the impact. By providing food, we wanted to make an impact on the kids in the classroom and that’s our goal: We want kids to succeed in school.”

Ousley said the children eat at school during the week but often have nothing on the weekend.

“A lot of these kids rely on the free and reduced cost meals for nutrition at the schools during the week,” she said. “But on the weekend they don’t eat.”

So, what do the kids receive?

“They get a bag every weekend with about 12 items,” Ousley said. “The kids who receive Kids Pack can be living in cars, motels, garages and other substandard housing. The food we select has to be non-perishable, easy to prepare, light weight, available in bulk quantities every week. And we want the kids to like it.”

The kinds of food would possibly be 100 percent juice, granola bars, cups of noodles, applesauce and maybe peanut butter crackers, Ousley said, who added the food is then placed in a backpack that is age and gender specific.

That’s to avoid a 10-year-old boy from being embarrassed, for example, for having a pink Little Mermaid backpack, which he most likely wouldn’t like and then wouldn’t take home the food and eat it, Ousley said.

“The backpacks, they need to be proud of them and want to take them home,” she said. “We didn’t want them to be embarrassed or stigmatized in any way.”

SPECIFICALLY, IN FONTANA THERE IS definitely a need for this type of service, Ousley said.

“In Fontana, we’re able to serve 200 kids, kindergarten through middle school,” she said. “We started this program in Fontana with the Fontana Unified School District last year.”

In Fontana, Ousley said the children are selected by the schools to participate in this program.

One person in the district who helps with the United Way is Bernie Gallagher, the district’s homeless liaison. Gallagher said the chapter has really gone out of its way to make sure kids get fed.

“They’ve been unreal, very obliging,” Gallagher said. “They’ve been nothing but pleasant. On a scale of one to 10, they’re a 20.”

Gallagher agreed with Ousley that the program really serves a need for children in the community.

“Some of our kids unfortunately don’t have enough food on the weekend when they’re home,” she said. “The Kids Pack program ensures they have at least one nutritional snack on the weekend.”

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE to the Kids Pack program or even volunteer, call Ousley at (909) 980-2857 ext. 203 or visit www.ieuw.org.

(Shel Segal can be reached at shelsegal@yahoo.com.)

 

back