Feature Release: Winter weather causes school and shelter closings: Mid-South kids go hungry
(MEMPHIS, TN –Feb. 19, 2015) Thousands of children in Shelby County and the surrounding region rejoiced Monday morning as they awoke to school cancellations. Sleds were broken out, hot chocolate was poured and TV marathons ensued.
There were even smiling and relieved faces from parents and teachers set to enjoy a day off, snuggled under blankets and stealing a few extra hours of weekday rest. Some children and their parents, however, could not afford these luxuries, let alone a day off, for the most basic of reasons: food.
For every five children who woke up to the news of school closings, one of them knew that a snow day meant there would be no breakfast or lunch coming that day. Many food-insecure children depend on going to school to get their meals, and, when the doors close for inclement weather, they go hungry. Feeding America and Mid-South Food Bank define a “food insecure” person as anyone without reliable access to 3 meals a day. Prior to this past weekend, food shelters in the Mid-South Food Bank network tried to prepare kids in need for the possibility of days off by providing over 2,000 backpacks filled with food, but those reserves were only meant to last a few days.
Ephie Johnson, head of the Neighborhood Christian Center (NCC), knows how hungry families feel during these times: “It hurts when you cannot feed your babies. We are the front-line responders to help those people in need.”
The NCC on Jackson Avenue was one of the few food pantries to open its doors on Monday and Tuesday, albeit with a limited staff. They gave out “Samaritan Bags” filled with rice and canned goods to those who braved the rough weather conditions. Many volunteers could not make the drive on the icy roads, leaving most shelters closed and unable to help those in need. The Mid-South Food Bank, its shelves nearly empty after providing the backpacks to surrounding schools, could not replenish its stocks early in the week, as delivery trucks could not make the drive.
Even as trucks roll back into the food bank, Shelby County Schools remained closed through Wednesday, and some surrounding counties to the north were closed through Friday – leaving children without more meals they rely on. Many families and pantries continue to be isolated without food in the more rural areas. Mid-South Food Bank is working to restock its shelves, but resupply traffic through donation centers has been lacking with the recent inclement weather.
“It’s tough for people to donate, much less come get the food they need, when they can’t leave their driveways,” says Matt Butler, a first-grade teacher at Riverwood Elementary and a food pantry volunteer. Another MSFB canned good drive, Kids Kan, was scheduled to start on the 16th, and school closings mean pushing back one of the major winter sources of donations to the MSFB.
“We are hopeful that the dates get pushed and we make up for lost time,” said Butler, “but it still affects hungry families right now since those supplies aren’t coming in.” The Kids Kan food drive will be extended from the 18th into the first week of March. The campaign is a critical winter replenishment of all food bank shelves by local schools. Kroger’s campaign encourages all elementary, middle, and high school children to bring nonperishable food and canned goods to their homerooms, and parents are invited to donate online at www.midsouthfoodbank.org.
Another major concern shared by the NCC and the MSFB is more bad weather looming in the days and weeks to come. More school closings mean more children that go without their school-provided meals, and more freezing temperatures mean the possibility of food pantry shelves remaining bare.
Mid-South Food Bank is asking for the community to donate what they can while the weather permits. Even online monetary donations can make a difference for children and their families, with $1 providing 3 meals. Cold weather means hungry families have to decide between heating their homes and feeding their kids. While we can’t stop the cold and the school closings, we can harness community support and help feed the need.
ABOUT MID-SOUTH FOOD BANK
Our Mission at Mid-South Food Bank is to bring the food-insecure population from hunger to health through collaborative partnerships and the effective distribution of nutritious food in our communities. Over 400,000 people in the Mid-South struggle with hunger, and nearly one-third of them are children.
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