Imagine it was Friday at lunch and you just had a nutritious meal and were about to go back to class knowing that was your last real meal until Monday morning. As excruciating as that would be not only to focus on your afternoon classes, but to live through 2.5 days while hunger pangs strongly.
This is a reality that 1 in 6 children in Lancaster County face. According to the Center on Hunger and Poverty “hungry children have a hard time learning in school, have short attention spans, and suffer more absence due to illness.” When Power Packs Project Founder Joan Espenshade learned of the enormity of food insecurity right here where she lived and worked, she had to do something about it. That’s when this great organization began.
This past quarter, our Kalas Foundation had the privilege of donating to Power Packs Project to help them do what they do. Today, 14 years after Joan’s dream of something like this organization was born, they serve over 1,600 families in our communities with nutritious meals for their entire weekend. It’s incredible. The families they serve sign up near the beginning of the school year to receive Power Packs Project’s support. From then on, they receive a bag filled with groceries each Thursday after school. Milk, meat, and measured ingredients to make nutritious meals. Not only that, they include recipe cards with step by step instructions in English and Spanish. This organization is helping to educate men, women and children on how to cook, what kinds of food are good for their bodies to eat and remedying many of the burdens caused by food insecurity and not eating as a family. A family enrolled in Power Packs Projects goes from the unbearable stress of not knowing where their meal will come from to eating together over a homecooked meal. It is safe to say, this organization’s impact goes far beyond feeding bellies. They feed emotional wellness through family meal times, focus in school through children not having to worry about whether they will eat or not over the weekend, and mental illness such as anger in boys and depression in girls that food insecurity can cause.
It is organizations like this that make us proud to live and work in the very counties we do. With the number of families enrolled in their support, your community is directly being impacted through their work. Power Packs Projects serves 45 schools in 13 districts with over 500 volunteers. Their warehouse and distribution center filled with organized pallets of food for each school is located on Walnut street in Lancaster City. Consider joining us in helping them do what they do. You can volunteer, become a partner, affiliate or make a donation. Visit https://www.powerpacksproject.org/ to learn more and get involved.