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       Child Food Insecurity in Montgomery County

Conroe, Texas-August 24, 2011 The USDA, for the first time in history, is reporting the highest number of households where children are food insecure at some point during the year. Food insecurity refers to the number of people that did not have access at all times to food or not enough to live a healthy active life. Children are the most vulnerable, as undernourished children cannot learn at school and their brain development is compromised.1 in 5 children in the United States are hungry, 1 in 4 children in Texas are hungry, and 1 in 6 households in Montgomery County do not know when their next meal is or where it will come from.

The poverty rate has been established as an income of $10,800 or less annually. A job paying minimum wage is $14,500 in annual income. The MCFB fills 30,000 requests for food monthly through the partnering 50 pantries. 72% of the people the Food Bank serves earn an annual income of $19,800 for a family of 4. 12,000 or 40% of the requests for food are filled for children.

The MCFB has developed 2 programs to assist child insecurity in our county, Operation Kid Pack (formerly known as the Backpack Program), and the School Pantries.

Operation Kid Pack sends 7-10 pounds of nutritious food home weekly during the school year to the hungriest of the hungry children. Previously in 31 schools, Operation Kid Pack operates in all 6 school districts in the county and has increased 48% to serve 46 schools in the 2011/2012 school year. Operation Kid pack is organized through volunteers who come to the Food Bank weekly and to fill plastic bags with food. Volunteers deliver the packages to the participants’ schools. The schools take the plastic bags and insert them in backpacks for the kids. No one knows the kids have food in the backpacks except for the counselors that identify the “hungriest” of the kids eligible for the program. The backpacks are then returned to school every Monday to start the process again on Friday. It costs $350 a year to sponsor 1 child for the entire school year. Schools that are the most economically disadvantaged are considered first. Leadership Montgomery County Class of 2011 expanded the Backpack Sorting Area to allow a designated area for volunteers, shelving for the food items, and tables to prepare the backpacks.

The School Pantry Program was started in November of 2010 when the Montgomery County Food Bank was awarded a grant through Target and Feeding America for a period of 1 year to start up 2 sites; one in Splendora, and one in Magnolia. Cedric Smith Elementary School is the site in Magnolia and both Greenleaf Elementary School and Peachcreek Elementary School in Splendora are served at the Splendora ISD building. The school pantry sites are available once monthly and are staffed by volunteers consisting of school staff, parents, and clients. They serve approximately 100 families each month with dry goods, and perishables of dairy, bread, produce, and meat products. Leadership East Montgomery County adopted the Splendora School Pantry as their non-profit project for the community. The pantry changed from a temporary mobile pantry to a permanent location with shelving, shopping carts, and a new name, “Wildcat Pantry”.

Feeding America and Target have just announced that the Montgomery County Food Bank is the recipient of the Target FY11 School Pantry Existing Sites grant. This grant will provide the Montgomery County Food Bank with grant funds tosustain the existing sites of School Pantry programs previously funded by Target. The renewal allows 50 additional families to participate in the program if they have a student enrolled in one of the 3 schools. Only 10 Food Banks across the country were awarded the renewal grant through a partnership with Feeding America and Target.

To find out more about participating in the MCFB programs, to donate food or money, or to volunteer call 936.539.6686 or email us through www.MontgomeryCountyFoodBank.com