Northwest Arkansas Group Highlights 1 Million SnackPacks

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. SnackPacks are weekend food supplements delivered to students through the Samaritan Community Center's SnackPack for Kids program. The organization provides more than 6,500 packages of snacks to students in Benton, Carroll, Washington and Madison counties every week.
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. SnackPacks are weekend food supplements delivered to students through the Samaritan Community Center's SnackPack for Kids program. The organization provides more than 6,500 packages of snacks to students in Benton, Carroll, Washington and Madison counties every week.

BENTONVILLE — As the single parent of five children, Thaddaeus Chambers doesn’t mind a little extra help.

He gets it from Samaritan Community Center’s SnackPacks for Kids program, which provides food to underprivileged children across the region before they go home for the weekend.

By The Numbers

SnackPack Distribution

The number of SnackPacks delivered in each Northwest Arkansas school district since the SnackPacks for Kids program launched in 2004. The numbers are through December. Another 172,781 SnackPacks have been delivered to Head Start or other programs.

• Springdale: 230,353

• Rogers: 162,752

• Bentonville: 105,666

• Fayetteville: 54,308

• Siloam Springs: 46,208

• Gravette: 26,883

• Pea Ridge: 21,487

• Gentry: 19,637

• Farmington: 17,947

• Elkins: 15,987

• Decatur: 13,977

• West Fork: 12,142

• Huntsville: 9,422

• Greenland: 8,672

• Lincoln: 5,813

Source: Samaritan Community Center

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 chosen to receive that milestone SnackPack.

Clara, 8, most enjoys the fruit chews 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, including several mayors and other community leaders.

Thaddaeus Chambers, who works full time for Walmart, said the SnackPacks give his family “that little extra something” they need 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.

SnackPacks provides a bag filled with eight to 10 snacks to children identified by schools as being at risk for hunger or food insecurity on weekends. Items vary but often include pudding cups, cheese crackers, Ramen noodles and granola bars. Each bag costs $1.79 to produce.

SnackPacks began in 2004 serving 300 children in three schools in Rogers and Bentonville. There were 6,883 SnackPacks distributed during the 2004-05 school year.

The program now serves 6,500 students in 95 elementary schools and Head Start facilities across Northwest Arkansas. During the 2012-13 school year it distributed 204,626 SnackPacks.

Samaritan Community Center officials noted Friday’s ceremony was bittersweet. The fact a million SnackPacks have been distributed means there’s a lot of need in the area.

“We have a need here in Northwest Arkansas we don’t always see,” said Ginger Brooks, a member of the center’s Board of Directors.

Greg Hines, Rogers mayor, said Rogers has a “staggering number” of children in need. Twelve volunteers deliver SnackPacks to 13 Rogers schools each week.

“No matter how successful we are here in Northwest Arkansas, we’re only as strong as the less fortunate of our population,” he said.

Bob McCaslin, Bentonville mayor, and Doug Sprouse, Springdale mayor, also spoke at the ceremony.

Children of families that meet the income requirement qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school, but many of those children have little or nothing to eat during weekends, center officials said.

Debbie Rambo, center director, said SnackPacks is a volunteer-driven event. Their volunteers have ranged in age from 2 to 87.

“We couldn’t do it without you,” Rambo said to the volunteers in the audience. She noted one volunteer who delivers SnackPacks weekly to nine schools in Springdale.

“Do you know how many trips that is?” she said.

The center recently began concentrating on choosing healthier food for the SnackPacks. It has contracted with a registered dietitian to help with that initiative, Brooks said.

One strategy is to try to buy food directly from manufacturers. That would cut out the middlemen and free up money to buy healthier but more expensive snacks, she said.

Food drives generate donations for SnackPacks, but the center still buys more than 50,000 snack items at a cost of about $30,000 per month, according to the center’s website.

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