snack pak 4 kids

It began with 10 hungry students at Will Rogers Elementary School in Amarillo. Bushland couple Dyron and Kelly Howell had discovered that Amarillo was the largest city west of Dallas without a weekend backpack program. And yet more than 3,200 children in the Amarillo Independent School District relied only on the meals served to them at school for their weekly food. That meant hundreds of children spent their nights and weekends hungry. Determined to find some way to address this need, the Howells assembled ten bags of food that could be prepared without adult supervisionjuice boxes, peanut butter, sandwich snack crackers, breakfast cereal, Pop-Tarts, fruit cups and more. On Friday, September 3, 2010, the first ten Snack Pak 4 Kids recipients were given those bags, which contained enough food to get them through the weekend. The Howells prepared the bags again the next week, and got others involved. Soon the number of children grew, and then the program expanded to other schools. Teachers began seeing academic improvement, better concentration, and higher attendance among SP4K recipients. As of early 2014, the program has grown to serve 5,800 students in 31 school districts, Amarillo, Booker, Borger, Bushland, Canadian, Clarendon, Clayton NM, Dalhart, Dimmitt, Dumas, Friona, Fritch, Happy, Hereford, Highland Park, Lockney, Panhandle, Pampa, Perryton, Plainview, River Road, Spearman, San Antonio, Stratford, Sunray, Tahoka, Texhoma, Texline, Tulia, White Deer, and Wildorado.