24
Filling Bellies BEFORE FILLING
Self-Ful?llment
Needs
Psycological
Needs
Basic Needs
Dr. Mary
BERK-MOONEY
(636) 528-8911
TroyDentalCare.com
By January 2013, 44%
of the R-III District?s
student
population
was participating in the
federally-funded Free and
Reduced Lunch Program
compared to a mere 26%
a decade earlier. With the
help of the community,
the Lincoln County R-III
School District is helping
kids learn in the classroom
by addressing one of
their most basic needs
– hunger. In February
2012, the R-III District
launched a weekend
food program called
Buddy Bags to
address
food
insecurity
in
the homes of
elementary
students
across
t h e
district.
Main
Street
Elementary Principal Kristi
Shinn said the elementary
principals of the R-III
District were seeing a
heartbreaking trend in
some of their students
based on hunger.
“We would see kids
that didn?t look forward
to a Friday because they
wouldn?t eat from Friday
to Monday. Kids that
didn?t look forward to a
Christmas Break because
they knew they may not
have food in their bellies,”
she said. The weekend
food
program
began
serving sixty students
and was running solely
on donations of money
and food. Within eight
months of the program?s
launch, the District was
able to more than triple
the number of students
served by extending it to
middle school and prekindergarten
students
thanks to the outpouring
of support. Buddy Bags was
just step one in addressing
the need that had grown in
the community though.
By May 2012, the R-III
District
launched
the
Seamless Summer Meal
Program to provide free,
nutritious lunches during
the summer months to
any child up to the age of
18. The summer of 2012
was the ?rst time the R-III
District had quali?ed for
the lunch program, which
is also funded through the
National Lunch Program.
The initial summer served
nearly 16,000 lunches to
children in the community
by utilizing convenient
locations such as Main
Street Elementary, Hawk
Point Elementary and the
Ninth Grade Center.
The Lincoln County R-III
School District continued
to address hunger among
Tony
MOONEY
(636) 528-7473
MooneyMarketing.us
Buchanan High School, Class of 1982
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