Sun, Jul 05 2009
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Published October 06, 2008 10:52 am - Southcentral Kentucky has a hunger issue and children often suffer from it most. Program aims to ease children’s hunger By GINA KINSLOW Glasgow Daily Times GLASGOW — Southcentral Kentucky has a hunger issue and children often suffer from it most.
Some area children have little or no food at home. That’s why three area school districts have recently partnered with America’s Second Harvest of Kentucky’s Heartland to combat the problem. Through America’s Second Harvest, area schools are able to send students home with nonperishable food, such as granola bars, peanut butter and crackers, and canned meals. “We’re not a Third World country. We don’t have those bloated bellies, but there are outward signs that alert you that a child is doing without on the weekend,” said Milissa French, coordinator of America’s Second Harvest Backpack Program in Elizabethtown. Children are referred to the program by either a teacher, family resource or youth service center coordinator or other school personnel. “They must be showing symptoms of hunger, such as irritability, hoarding or asking for extras. Many times they will ask their teacher, ‘When’s lunch? When’s lunch?’,” French said. The program has recently been implemented in Glasgow Independent, Barren County and Metcalfe County school systems. The program is available to all students in the Metcalfe County School System, but only to elementary and middle school students in the Glasgow Independent School District and just elementary school students in the Barren County district. How school officials select children for the program varies. “One family, when I made a home visit, (the mom) questioned me about food, so I told her about the program,” said Becky Honeycutt, family resource coordinator for Highland Elementary. Others rely on their schools’ cafeteria staffs to alert them about children who seem to be hungry on Monday mornings or who are asking for extra food when they come through the breakfast and lunch lines. Once a child has been referred to the program, schools obtain parental permission before sending any food home. Glasgow and Barren schools work closely with an area church and the Housing Authority of Glasgow to implement the program. The church, which asked not to be identified, is the contracting agency with America’s Second Harvest, while the Housing Authority of Glasgow is the coordinating agency. “Since we already have a commodity program in place through America’s Second Harvest, we have to be the drop-off point for the food that is used in the backpack program,” said Sheri Lee, director of the Housing Authority of Glasgow. “We also have to place the orders.” 
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