School feeds hungry families, not just students

Published 11:12 pm Wednesday, April 28, 2010

EVERETT — When third-grade teacher Tammie Enders learned a student in her class didn’t have enough to eat at home, she was concerned.

The Glenwood Elementary School teacher spoke to the student’s mother over Christmas break last year and found out the family was going hungry.

“They’re a good family and the mom is using every resource she has,” Enders said. “Last year is when I became more aware of situations where kids are going hungry and not having enough to eat on weekends and on breaks.”

She did some research and found a program started in Arkansas called Li’l Hungry Hearts that sends kids home with backpacks of food over weekends and school breaks. She liked the idea and asked a school volunteer and parent of one of her former students if she was interested in starting the program at Glenwood Elementary in the Lake Stevens School District.

The volunteer, Anita Caffee, learned more about Li’l Hungry Hearts and set out to organize a pilot program at Glenwood.

Glenwood students and their families helped to kick off the Li’l Hungry Hearts backpack program at their school by donating items during a food drive March 3 to 19.

The food drive brought in enough food to help seven families who qualified and were interested in getting help, Caffee said. Food started going home on March 19. Boxes of food also went home for spring break during parent-teacher conferences. Enough food was collected to continue sending food home with students through the end of the school year.

“I only have a few items I have to buy,” Caffee said. “I have a lot of parent volunteers that have pledged to either volunteer or donate food so some of them will donate what I don’t have.”

The food is stored at the Lake Stevens Grange. Caffee creates a menu such as macaroni and cheese, granola bars, fruit cups and oatmeal that are bagged by several students and a parent volunteer every Thursday for students to take home on Fridays.

“We start out with a menu and we change it around every week so they don’t have the same things over and over again,” Caffee said. “I have it all mapped out so far from now until the end of the year.”

Caffee’s 10-year-old son, Trevor, has volunteered to bag food and donated money to the Li’l Hungry Hearts program. The Glenwood fourth-grader donated $125 from his March 16 birthday because he was surprised to learn people at his school didn’t have enough food to eat.

“I wanted to help out,” he said. “I want to help support the kids at my school.”

Helping those in need isn’t anything new at Glenwood. The school has made it a goal for the past five years to host school-wide events for students to help others. Students have collected blankets and used books for the Lake Stevens Family Center, sent boxes of items to support soldiers in Iraq, donated more than 3,000 books to help create three new libraries in Botswana, Africa; held a school supplies drive for a girls’ school in Peru and collected donations for Children’s Hospital, the NOAH Animal Shelter and the Lake Stevens Community Food Bank.

Caffee worked with the Lake Stevens School District and received support from the school’s PTA before organizing the program at Glenwood. She hopes other schools in the district will also begin their own versions of the program.

“I wanted to do this so everybody else could get involved too so I went to the district to try to get paperwork going for other schools if they want to start doing this,” Caffee said.

Caffee added that she would like the Li’l Hungry Hearts program to continue throughout the summer months. Local businesses including Bourne Orthodontist, Costco, Dorian Photography, South Lake Family Dentistry and Walgreens have contributed a total of $600 to the program. She plans to use the funds to purchase more food. This summer she plans to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Lake Stevens Grange for children who are hungry.

“If kids anywhere in Lake Stevens want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich they’re welcome to come,” she said.

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.

Donate

Monetary donations to the Li’l Hungry Hearts program at Glenwood Elementary School can be mailed or dropped off at the school, 2221 103rd Ave. SE., Everett, 98205. More information is available by calling Glenwood Elementary at 425-335-1510.