It’s hard to concentrate on school work with an empty stomach and no promise of food when you get home. A student can’t learn when he’s hungry.
The Food for Thought Program, formerly the Backpacks for Kids program, is a weekend program that provides shelf-stable, nutritious food to chronically hungry students during the weekend when no other food source may be available.
A weekend’s worth of food is packed into plastic grocery bags and discreetly placed into the student’s backpack on Friday afternoons prior to dismissal.
When a child’s stomach has food in it, the student’s ability to concentrate and learn increases. Hunger adversely affects not only a child’s ability to learn but his or her ability to interact with other students. Often a hungry child acts out in anger, has trouble focusing on tasks or is lethargic. A child who is chronically hungry often demonstrates traits of malnourishment.
A program in East Texas shared the story of a student who at the beginning of the school year took an assessment test and the results indicated that he needed special education. His teacher knew something was off so she took a chance and entered the young boy in their town’s weekend food program. Almost immediately she noted a change in the student’s behavior and grades. A few months later, the student was tested again and his results told a completely different story. They said he was gifted. All he needed was some food in his body so his brain could function properly.
The correlation between food and brain function is undeniable. A student will be better able to perform in school if he’s not hungry and worrying about where his next meal is coming from.
It’s hard to believe, but there are many students in Brown County schools whose only meals of the day may very well be those they have at school. When school is out for the weekend, some students may not eat again until they come back to school on Monday. What a burden for one so young to bear!
The Food for Thought Program provides an opportunity to fill the gap so a student can arrive to school Monday morning ready to learn with the pangs of hunger satisfied.
“The Food for Thought Program does much more than provide food in students’ backpacks,” said Misty Bowers, Director of Communications and Food for Thought Coordinator at GSM. “It feeds their minds as well as their bodies so they are better equipped to be engaged in the classroom, have a successful education and, hopefully, to eventually break the cycle of poverty and hunger in their lives.”
The Food for Thought Program is designed to do just as it implies, to provide food that nourishes both the bodies and minds of students because before learning can begin, hunger must end.
This year, 12 campuses in Brown County will participate in the Food for Thought Program.
“We ended the last school year with just more than 100 students on eight campuses so we are excited to be able to partner with even more campuses to provide weekend food sacks to even more children,” Bowers said.
The program is provided through GSM’s Food Ministry at no cost to the school, the student or the student’s family. In order to do that, GSM needs volunteers who would be willing to help pack the sacks of food and/or deliver them to the various campuses. Anyone who would like to volunteer may call Misty Bowers at 325-643-2273 or 325-203-2489.
Anyone who would like to donate to the program may do so by stopping by 305 Clark Street, mail donation to P.O. Box 1136, Brownwood, TX 76804 or online via PayPal at www.goodsambwd.org. It costs $4.50 to provide a sack of food to one student for one weekend; $166 will provide one student with a sack full of food every weekend of the school year. If you break that down over 12 months, that’s only $14 per month.
For more information about the program, visit www.goodsambwd.org or call Misty at 643-2273 or 203-2489.
