1 millionth SnackPack delivered

Debbie Rambo, executive director for the Samaritan Community Center, talks about the impact the SnackPack for Kids program has made on the community Friday, Feb. 7, 2014, at R. E. Baker Elementary in Bentonville in celebration of the delivery of the one millionth SnackPack from the Samaritan Community Center.

Debbie Rambo, executive director for the Samaritan Community Center, talks about the impact the SnackPack for Kids program has made on the community Friday, Feb. 7, 2014, at R. E. Baker Elementary in Bentonville in celebration of the delivery of the one millionth SnackPack from the Samaritan Community Center.

Friday, February 7, 2014

BENTONVILLE — Thaddaeus Chambers of Bentonville works 40 hours per week and sometimes more, but as the single parent of five children, he could use a little extra help.

He gets some help from Samaritan Community Center's SnackPacks for Kids program, which provides food to needy children across the region before they go home for the weekend.

Chambers and his family were at R.E. Baker Elementary School on Friday for a ceremony to mark the distribution of the 1 millionth SnackPack since the program launched nine years ago. His daughter Clara, a third-grader at Baker, was designated as the recipient of that SnackPack.

Clara, 8, most enjoys the fruit snacks that come with the SnackPacks. She said she was nervous to be on stage in front of her classmates and dozens of adults who attended the ceremony.

Thaddaeus Chambers said the SnackPacks give his kids "that little extra something" the family needs to get through the week.

"It's an honor to accept this on behalf of all the families that have benefited from the program," he said.

When it began, SnackPacks for Kids served 300 kids in three schools. It now serves 6,500 kids in 95 elementary schools and Head Start facilities across Northwest Arkansas.