Roosevelts Opens a Snack Shack Program
By Desiree Flores | Assignments Editor |
Maria Feibelman and Trashauna Collins help to organize the food to deliver.
Many families struggle day-to-day in providing a little food on the table to feed the kids, maybe not enough income is coming in, or times right now are just a little too tough.
To respond to this, Katie Devine, an Algebra teacher, has partnered with Snack Pak 4 Kids to bring a Snack Shak to Roosevelt, to change lives for the better. The program brings bags of nutritious pantry items to students to keep them filled through the weekend.
“I know that learning is difficult if you are always hungry, and I don’t think that ANY child, young or old, should go hungry if there is a way to help it,” Devine said. “I think there are students at Roosevelt whose families could benefit from a little extra food each week, and when I learned about the opportunity to start Snack Shack here I volunteered to bring it on.”
Snack Shak gives students the opportunity to select and prepare their own fulfilling, nutritious meals and gives their peers the chance to help. Snack Shak students select food from a menu of 35 brand new, brand-name items, including applesauce, peanut butter, and Nutrigrain bars, which they can have delivered to a teacher for them to protect their privacy.
“Students from Roosevelt can sign up online to receive a bag of extra food for the week. There is a limited number of items they can sign up for, but it is completely free to the student,” Devine said. “They student just needs to go online to fill out their order form, as well as list a teacher they want to pick up their food from. Once we get the food on campus students will receive the bag of food they select at the end of each week until they decide not to receive the food anymore. The food is currently being paid for by a grant from Valero.”
Less than a month in, Devine has more 65 orders turned in, with food being delivered on Thursdays and Fridays to help kids through the weekends. Students are helping Devine package the bags.
“I think the Snack Shak is a great opportunity to help my fellow community,” senior Trashauna Collins said. “It also gives people access to food when they may need it the most. We hope this program stays around.”
About 40 communities statewide participate in the program.