By LANCE FLEMING
Abilene ISD Communications
In October 2018, Love and Care Ministries Director of Ministry Terry Davis went to the Texas Panhandle with a group of administrators and staff from Abilene ISD to study a program Amarillo ISD was running that helped keep its students fed on weekends during the school year.
Amarillo ISD launched Snack Pak 4 Kids in September, serving approximately 3,200 district students. It soon broadened and now provides weekend food for students in 50 other school districts surrounding Amarillo.
Davis had no doubt Love and Care Ministries – in cooperation with AISD, Abilene business partners, and other sponsors – could pull off something similar in Abilene. And that’s how Carepack for Kids became part of the Love and Care’s outreach. Students in AISD were first served in January 2019, and since then, the program has grown to help students and families in nine other school districts around Abilene fight hunger and food insecurity.
“I had no vision that this would blow up like it has while we were standing in that warehouse in Amarillo,” Davis said. “I was just hoping we could help kids in Abilene, and now we handle 10 school districts, including AISD.”
The program has grown so much that it now accounts for almost 25 percent of Love and Care’s year’s budget.
The premise is simple: put food in the hands of students each Friday afternoon to get those in need through a weekend with something to eat. Every other week at the Love and Care Ministries warehouse, volunteers pack 13 nutritious items in bags, and each week those bags are delivered or picked up for students on virtually every campus in 10 school districts: Abilene, Wylie, Jim Ned, Merkel, Eula, Clyde, Anson, Hawley, Baird, and Lueders-Avoca.
Campus staff – which informs Davis early each week how many bags they will need on their campus by Thursday afternoon – then give the bags to students to be discreetly sent home each Friday. Items in the bags – protein bars, cereals, meat sticks, etc. – are meant to give a child something to eat over the weekend so they aren’t experiencing hunger pangs when they return to school each Monday.
“Dyron Howell (co-creator of the Amarillo program) said they discovered students might eat well at school on Friday, but they didn’t eat on the weekends,” Davis said. “So when they returned to school Monday, they gorged themselves to try and replenish their bodies, and the only thing they were looking for the first two days of the week was something to eat. It took almost two days for them to get back on a good nutrition footing, and then the cycle started again a couple of days later.”
While some in Abilene never see it, Davis said statistics show that almost 15 percent of the student population in any school district in America is dealing with food insecurity. The poverty rate in Abilene hovers around 17 percent, which is a big reason Love and Care’s Carepack for Kids initiative handed out 71,000 bags in the 2023-24 school year, or approximately 1,900 per week with about 1,400 of those going to students in Abilene ISD.
“Each item in our bag has been kid-tested to make sure it’s something kids will eat,” Davis said. “The focus here is that nothing in our bag has to be prepared but has decent nutritional value. We’re also looking for items that kids can eat without any supervision. The word ‘latchkey’ is alive in Abilene. Kids are stuck at home over the weekend while mom and dad are working, and whatever they have in the house is what they have. We’re just trying to add to the food options. It’s not the kid’s fault the family might be living in poverty, but we can try and help pull them out of that cycle.”
Love and Care Ministries has worked with local sponsors to fund the project at some campuses in AISD and surrounding counties, and the Junior League of Abilene has also come alongside Love and Care to help students in the 10 school districts it serves. And, Davis said, it’s making a difference in the lives of children.
“The feedback we get is predominantly from counselors and they’ve told us the kids love getting the bags, and the program is making a difference in the lives of children,” Davis said. “And it’s a huge difference. The teachers see a big difference in those kids when they return to class on Mondays. What we’re doing, what AISD is doing with those who need clothing or other assistance, and what other entities are doing is taking care of people.”
FREE SUMMER MEALS FOR KIDS
Abilene ISD’s Summer Feeding Program has started and will go through Thursday, July 25, with no service on July 4-5 because of the Independence Day holiday. Click here for more information.
