Weekend Food Program – Totes for Hope – Help end childhood hunger
Harvest Mountain Ministries is applying to become a program partner agency of Food Bank of the Rockies and to launch a totes for Hope program for Eiber Elementary School .
EIBER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
1385 Independence Street
Lakewood, Colorado 80215
To Whom it May Concern:
Subject : Weekend Food Program for Eiber Elementary
We are a Title One Jefferson County Elementary School. We have 95 percent of our students on free and Reduced Lunch Program. Our population includes 400 students with 36 homeless families.
Our school is dedicated to helping meet the needs of these families. On weekends we have many children who are hungry until they return to school on Monday morning.
Please allow me to introduce Mrs Barbara Moore, our community champion as our represdentative. She has been key to putting this program together and we will appreciate any help you can provide her with.
We are developing a partnership with community members and organizations who have a passion to provide weekend food for hungry children at our school. We will be starting with a non profit in Lakewood, Harvest Mountain Ministries, which is a 501c3 organization, to become a partner with Food Bank of the Rockies and Kids TOTES of HOPE Program.
Every Friday we will give students a weekend tote which consists of 6 to 10 pounds of food. We will need to pick up food and then sort food into tote size packs for each student. There will be storage needs and procedures developed. The students will receive the tote at school.
Many of the families at Eiber have parents who work two jobs. This weekend food meets at risk hunger needs. The Federal Government does not supply to Title One schools weekend food.
Would you consider providing a donation to cover operating expenses for this worthy program? Our goal is to provide food stock that meets hunger needs with providing healthy food.
We will be doing food drives, fundraising, and in future look forward to teaching about healthy eating. We have a school garden at Eiber and they are able to teach about growing fresh vegetables. This is a community garden
Thank you in advance for all of your collaboration with your generous donations.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Cynthia Saunders ,
Cynthia Saunders
Family Engagement Liaison Title 1
Eiber Elementary
1385 Independence St.
Lakewood, CO 80215
phone: 303-982-4853
fax: 303-982-6407
email: cesaunde@jeffco.k12.co.us
Totes of Hope® Program of Food Bank of the Rockies, Colorado
Totes of Hope® was created in 2006 to assist children with nutritious, kid-friendly food to sustain them over the weekend when school is not in session. Every Friday, children take home a tote filled with 8-9 pounds of nutritious food items to feed them and their families. For many of these children, the totes are their main source of food on Saturday and Sunday. There is no fee assessed to the member agency for participation in this program.
https://bestpractices.nokidhungry.org
Chronic Childhood Hunger
When a child does not have access to regular meals and is uncertain of when they may eat again they are experiencing the epidemic known as “chronic childhood hunger.” Families that cannot afford food or do not have regular access to food are considered “food insecure.”
- Lack of concentration
- Lethargy or general fatigue
- Stomachaches
- Headaches
- Irritability or mood swings
- Disciplinary problems
- Increased aggression
Recent studies from the American Academy of Pediatrics have shown that the effects of chronic childhood hunger can last a lifetime. Not knowing when they may have another meal can cause both anxiety and depression.
Hunger and Poverty in our Community
Hunger and poverty go hand in hand, which is why it is useful to use poverty statistics as a base for hunger statistics.
Chronic childhood hunger exists both above and below the poverty line, as the Federal guidelines for poverty are considered out of date.
- To be considered 100% of poverty, a family of four must earn less than $23,050 per year.
- To be eligible for reduced lunch, a family must be at 130% of the federal poverty line or earn less than $40,793 per year.
- To be eligible for free lunch, a family must earn less than 185% of the federal poverty line or $28,665 per year.
In Colorado, 17% of kids live in poverty
The number of children in poverty has more than doubled since 2000 and the number of children living in extreme poverty (approximately $11,000 for a family of four) has increased 150 percent.
While the childhood poverty rate in Colorado currently remains below the national average, between 2000 and 2009 the number of children living in poverty in Colorado more than doubled, rising faster than any other state in the nation.
School Meal Programs
In Colorado, there has been a steady increase in the number of children participating in the School Breakfast Program. The U.S. increased four percent in the number of children served by the free breakfast program since 2008, while the number of Colorado children increased more than twice as fast with a nine percent increase over the same period.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, more than 54,000 additional children participated in the National School Lunch Program in Colorado in 2009 than in 2005.
In Jefferson County, there are over 27,000 children who are eligible for free and or reduced lunch programs. Here in Golden, there are over 1,100 children eligible.
+Data compiled from the Kids Count Colorado 2011 Report