BY DAN HILDEBRAN
What started as a group of teachers concerned about the health of their students has grown into a program that supplies food to around 30 families.
McRae Elementary’s weekend food program recently won the Reinhold Foundation’s second-place prize for its Celebrate Clay awards earlier this year. The award came with a $7,000 cash prize.
Principal Tammy Winkler said the program started with teachers.
“Teachers know their kids,” she said, “and we had some concerns when some of the students went home on Fridays.”
Winkler added that one instructor, Art Teacher Julie Higby, made the first move by asking the anti-hunger nonprofit Waste, Not, Want Not to donate food to the school’s efforts to support its students on weekends.
The school went on to win the Reinhold Foundation’s Celebrate Clay awards in prior years for $1,000 twice and $2,000 twice before landing the $7,000 prize this year.
Winkler said the school’s staff purchases items like SpaghettiOs, peanut butter and jelly, pop tarts, and other items Winkler described as “kid friendly.”
Teachers then send the items home in a bag with students.
