Wintry weather can't stop Jackson food program

Various Jackson R-2 school district employees gathered in the Jackson Support Services building Friday to create and deliver more than 430 bags of meals and snacks for about 215 students as part of their Power Packs program that distributes nutritious, "kid-friendly" food to students in need.

The program usually distributes food directly to the students when they attend school on Fridays, which provides students six meals for the weekend. With the recent weather creating snow days and virtual learning days this week, students were not present at the schools on Friday.

"While we know most students and families are excited about a snow day, for some families, it becomes a burden because of food. And so, we decided that's not OK with us," said Merideth Pobst, director of communications for the district.

She continued to say they are delivering the meals to the student's doors this week using personal vehicles. They also decided to provide two weekends worth of meals Friday because of upcoming uncertain weather.

Funding for the program is completely donation-based and is not taken from the district's budget. It is run and operated by people from the district and local faith-based entities and food pantries who volunteer their effort and time.

Front, Secretary Megan Speith collects an applesauce to put into a meal pack called a power pack that will be delivered to Jackson students in need of food at the district's Support Services building in Jackson on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021.Sarah Yenesel ~ sarahy@semissourian.com

"I've had many parents that will call and thank us for the program, saying that it really helps," Jackson social worker Donna Bullard said. It is her ninth year working in this program. "We have single moms who talked about how it helped them. Kids will say, 'Thank you for not letting me be hungry anymore,' and then it allows them to focus on other things such as their education, and they don't have to worry about being hungry."

Pobst said the program has developed to make the meals more "kid-friendly" by providing food with nutrition that can also easily be made and eaten.

Each "power pack" bag contains about ten to 12 food items such as soup, canned tuna, cereal, chips, fruit cup, ramen, granola bar and easy mac that provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for the weekend for each student. It also has a snack bag of snacks for consumption throughout the week.