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Friday, 12 March 2010 |
"Fighting hunger... Feeding hope" is the long standing motto of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.
By CHRISTIE KENNELLY
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"Fighting hunger... Feeding hope" is the long standing motto of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. For 30 years they have acted as a link through which the community, businesses, and the food industry can make donations of food and other items to families in need.
Lisa Perry, with the Regional Food Bank, was the guest speaker on Friday, March 5, at the Guymon Rotary meeting held at the Ambassador Restaurant.
The main focus of her talk was on Food 4 Kids. Developed in 2003, this program provides hungry elementary school children with a backpack of healthy,nutritious, yet kid friendly food over weekends and holiday breaks. All of the Guymon schools have applied for this program.
On Friday, the child would get a backpack of food and then bring back the bag to be refilled for the next Friday. Approximately 85 children have already been identified as greatly benefitting from this program. Some of the benefits being increased health, improved attendance, therefore improved grades.
Food 4 Kids was originally developed after a principal from a Columbus, Ohio school reported that a child had passed out, and when the school nurse asked him what happened, the boy told her he had only had a hot dog to eat from Friday lunch to Monday lunch. With the firm belief that no child should ever go hungry, Food 4 Kids came to fruition.
The cost to feed a child for the entire year is approximately $200. This consists of every weekend, additional sacks on school holidays such as Christmas and Spring Break, and there will even be an extra package send home for a younger sibling. An additional plus, is that they will also provide bags for children with special food allergies, so that no child in need is left out. The goal for Guymon is raise $17,000.
It may seem like a big number, but when taking a child's health into consideration, it all of a sudden seems small for a community this size.
"Oklahomans are very generous.", said Perry. "But these are elementary children. They have no choice or say in the matter. It's out of their control."
The Regional Food Bank offers a variety of programs to help Oklahomans of all ages. They offer a program that provides assistance to seniors through mobile food pantries as well as in Senior housing facilities.
Kids Cafe, another available program, is an after school and during summer months program that provides meals, activities, and tutoring for at-risk youth.
There is also Produce People Care, Care and Share, Urban Harvest, Regional Distribution System, and USDA commodities. These are a few of the programs offered by the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, none of which would be available without the donation of money, product, and volunteer time.
For more information on how you can make a difference, or for further information about any of the programs listed, visit www.regionalfoodbank.org.
The next Guymon Rotary club meeting is slated for Friday, April 2 with Mary Fallin, Congresswoman from District 5, being the guest speaker.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 March 2010 )
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