There are disadvantaged children all around us today that go hungry every day in Polk County.
We just don’t often hear about this issue.
While subsidized school breakfast and lunch programs are in place during public school hours, what happens at mealtime for these very same children evenings, weekends and over the summer months?
kidsPACK strives to bridge that gap by simply taking action.
Randy Browning founded kidsPACK following a long history of charitable volunteer work with the Salvation Army, United Way, and Project Care Outreach, as well as several other charitable organizations. The formation of kidsPACK was inspired after learning of the growing number of homeless children suffering in hunger and threatened by hopelessness in our neighborhoods today. For Browning, the heartfelt calling to help is simple, build a solution to help children and the people in the community will come to the rescue. “I started kidsPACK for one reason – to feed kids. kidsPACK is the direction in my life and an answer to why I am here” stated Browning.
With a mission to help make sure that no child goes hungry kidsPACK is a non-profit organization supported by local community leaders and volunteers that are committed to improving the lives and opportunities of children.
When this initiative was started before the 2011-2012 school year, kidsPACK fed 449 homeless or hungry children in 31 Polk County public schools. This last school year 2018-2019, kidsPACK provided support to 68 schools in Polk County and serves 1712 kidsPACK meals per week.
In Polk County, there are currently 3,725 registered homeless children in our public schools. There are 150 brick and mortar public schools in Polk County and 89% are Title I schools.
Title I means that in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, it provides additional funding for supplemental academic support to schools with a high percentage of poverty.
For a child to receive approval for the kidsPACK program, the children are identified by the school or administration. The children must either be registered within the homeless division of the school district or has been identified by a school administrator or teacher as coming to school unprepared to learn because they have not eaten. Once the need is identified, approval is based on funding availability and a child will not be added unless funding is available for the entire school year. Although funding is sometimes limited, kidsPACK will make every effort to feed every child identified.
An everyday kidsPACK backpacks are turned into a food transportation module stocked with nutritious, child-friendly and easy to prepare food for children to eat over the weekend and times when they are away from school. We pack non-perishable containerized items like ravioli, fruit cups, trail mix and portable snacks like granola bars and pop-tarts.
If you want to make an impact in your community and especially a child’s life, kidsPACK is looking to broaden our scope of children this year and would appreciate your support through food donations or your time as a volunteer.
You can feed a child through the year for $300.00 that includes 2 breakfast’s, 2 lunches and 2 dinners over each weekend during the school year and the summer program. Pdf donation form click here
All donations to kidsPACK are greatly appreciated and are tax-deductible.
If you would like to bring the kidsPACK program to the schools in your community, please email [email protected]. website at www.kidspack.org phone 863-272-7927 3725 Frontage Road North Suite 1 Lakeland, FL 33810
Excerpts for this article are from Cindy S Adams and Patty Strickland. Kid Pack Inc. (dba kidsPACK) is a non-profit organization and operates exclusively for the disadvantaged children under the recognition and guidelines of the Internal Revenue Service. Gift Givers # CH35308. Helping those who cannot help themselves