News Flash! A snow day is no fun for food insecure kids. Extreme weather like that caused by the polar vortex are ratcheting up the level of concern for everyone’s well-being. If we are smart, we take all the necessary pre-cautions to stay off the roads, stay indoors, and stay warm. With the early warning of this weather event there was a significant run on the grocery stores. Staples like milk and bread were flying off the shelves. Having our school-aged children at home for several days in a row will have its fair share of stress, and keeping the pantry and fridge stocked is essential.
Consider the families living on the margins of poverty – for them this weather event creates even more difficulties than normal. Getting to work with a less-than-reliable car can mean extra expenses to the family budget, higher utility bills coming soon, and a forecast of tough times ahead as paychecks will be smaller because of work missed due to the weather. Long after the snow has melted and the chill winds diminished, these families will be facing even more challenges.
Why Food Insecure Kids Hate Snow Days
But what about the kids? For most of our kids…a snow day or two means fun and games at home, a delay of homework assignments, and weather-permitting, fun outside. But never a real worry about food. For food insecure kids, they have come to count on meals at school to power their day, and for the families w/ school kids we serve, a weekend food kit to survive the weekend food needs. A No School Snow Day = very real HUNGER.
You can help by becoming a sustaining donor to support us in keeping the food coming for those families living on the edge. Won’t you please consider setting up a recurring gift? Make a monthly gift at your budget comfort level. Just $10, $25, or $50 per month will make a huge difference. When we know we can count on the recurring gifts, it makes it possible for us to increase the amount of food in the next kits or even add an additional delivery for all our schools. For your information, adding an additional kit for all the 3,819 school children we are currently serving will cost $19, 095. Can you help?
Weekend Survival Kits mobilizes communities to provide food on the weekends to children in grades K-5 who may otherwise go hungry ultimately helping remove barriers to academic success. Weekend Survival Kits is a nonprofit, 501 c3, organization established in 2012. Currently serving over 3800 food insecure school kids in 70 schools over 5 Michigan counties.