Pack-a-Sack program still needs monetary donations

The Pack-a-Sack weekend food program sponsored by St. Paul United Church of Christ in Staunton still needs monetary donations to continue the program that provides food on weekends for Staunton schoolchildren.

Recently, Staunton Schools have adopted a free breakfast and lunch program for all students. While this is a good start for providing food to students who would otherwise go hungry, it doesn’t help with weekend food needs. Some of these children eat their free lunch on Friday and do not eat again until the free breakfast on Monday. To help alleviate this problem, St. Paul United Church of Christ launched the Pack-a-Sack Program in August 2015.

Teachers identify students in their class in need of food assistance to the school nurse. Each week, the church provides sacks of kid-friendly foods that are distributed through the school office. Each sack contains two small boxes of cereal, two fruit and cereal bars, two fruit bowls, one microwaveable Chef Boyardee entrée, one Easy Mac and Cheese bowl, and a treat. On three-day weekends, additional food items are included.

The Pack-a-Sack program is funded entirely by donations and 100 percent of funds goes directly to food. During the 2020-2021 school year, 70 children were fed each week. Currently 80 students have signed up for the program. Volunteers meet once a month to pack the sacks and take them to the school each Friday for distribution. If the schools move to virtual learning, the sacks are still distributed.

At this time, the request is made to the community, organizations and individuals to make monetary contributions for this program so hungry children in our community may continue to be fed on weekends. The cost per sack is $6.27. Feeding five kids for a weekend is $31.35, while filling 10 sacks is $62.27. An entire week of 80 sacks is $501.60. Contributions can be mailed to or dropped off at St. Paul United Church of Christ, located at 225 S. Laurel St. in Staunton. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until noon. Online contributions can be made by going to the church’s website at [email protected] and clicking on the “Give Now” button. The dropdown menu will include Pack-a-Sack.

All donations are appreciated, especially by the children who are no longer hungry.