During the school year, White Bear Lake Area teachers quietly place bags of food enough for six meals into the backpacks of children who need extra help with nutrition over the weekend.
For the first time, the White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf will continue that backpack program through the summer, thanks to new partnerships with a healthy food provider and a food shelf support non-profit.
Many schools offer weekday lunches in the summer to children in need, but they can face nutritional gaps over the weekend, according to food shelf director Andrea Kish-Bailey.
The Kid Pack, as the food shelf dubbed its program to provide a weekends worth of shelf-stable meals to children in the White Bear Lake Area school district, gives out nearly 400 bags a week when school is in session.
The summer goal is to give 250 students weekend packs, each containing six healthy meals.
Its made possible by partnerships with Foundation for Essential Needs, an organization that gives logistical and financial help to food shelves across Minnesota, and Step One Foods, a Minneapolis-based healthy food company.
The Foundation for Essential Needs is financing the effort and launched an online crowdfunding site to support it. Over $2,600 has been raised so far.
Step One is contributing nutrient-packed products to the backpacks, like high-fiber granola bars, banana-strawberry smoothie mix and whole-wheat pancake mix.
The White Bear food shelf even hosted a kid taste test to approve the items, according to Doug Kohrs, president of the Foundation for Essential Needs.
Food shelf executive director Andrea Kish-Bailey said she was grateful for the Step One products, because without them, theres only so much health that you can put into a backpack of shelf-stable food.
Were doing something really unique, said Kohrs about the three-way partnership.Its really a test case.
He added that the crowdfunding website was designed to find out one thing: How much interest can we generate for a program like this?
If the crowdfunding site and the nutritious foods see success this summer, the foundation wants to take the program to more school districts next year.
Kish-Bailey reports that the program has given out around 200 packs per week in the first few weeks of the summer program, and expects the attendance to grow as word of mouth spreads.
The packs are distributed at Birch Lake Elementary, Vadnais Heights Elementary, Lincoln Elementary and Central Middle School on Thursdays or Fridays.
The school district reported that 28.7 percent of its students receive free or reduced lunches. Kish-Bailey said the number seems high for the area, underscoring the notion that hunger affects more people than many expect.
When people think of White Bear, they dont usually think of need, Kish-Bailey said. She added, there is definitely a need.
Part of the challenge this summer is overcoming that stigma around food insecurity. Teachers cant sneak the packs into students backpacks like during the school year, so the distribution process is more out in the open. Kids might be embarrassed to need the help, Kish-Bailey said.
But that assistance doesnt end once the child accepts the pack. The food shelf reaches out to the whole family to enroll them in weekly shopping sessions at the center and connect them to other resources.
Having enough food to make it through the day is essential to childrens health and well-being, Kish-Bailey said.
Their brains work better and their bones are stronger and theyre just set up for success when students eat nutritious meals, she said.
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White Bear food shelf fills gaps in summer diets of children in need - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
