Feed-A-Child Program

The Little Free Pantry of Findlay recently shared a post on their Facebook page that is making the rounds online. After reading it, we wanted to spread the word of a way that the community can help the students in need mentioned in the post. Read the words of the post, written by Jacobs Elementary School Principal, Krista Miller, here:

I have been an educator for 24 years with Findlay City Schools and very proud to be a Findlay Trojan! I have taught a variety of grades levels ranging from kindergarten to 7th grade. After leaving the classroom, I served as the principal of Jefferson Primary School and am now proudly serving Jacobs Primary. I am married to Mark Miller and have 3 amazing children, Katy, Emma, and CJ Miller.
Jacobs Elementary School Data Points:

• 203/268 students on free/reduced lunch
• 131/268 students participating in the YMCA Backpack Food Bag Program
• 26 known students classified homeless
• 131 of our students stated that they have felt unsafe in their homes
• 145 of our students have had the police at their homes
• 92 of our students have stated they do not have enough food for dinner or on the weekends.

The United Way partly funds a program called ‘Feed-a-Child,’ which is part of their Halt Hunger Initiative. This particular program provides ‘substantial, nutritional, portable foods’ to students on Fridays for them to take home, so they have food to eat over the weekend. Some students would not otherwise receive the nutrition they need outside of school hours. The YMCA coordinates the packaging and delivery of the food, using the Halt Hunger truck purchased by The United Way of Hancock County.
The cost of keeping this program going has increased, so direct donations would help the United Way continue helping students. The weekly cost to keep things up and running is $3,695 per week for food – not including cost of a facilitator.
Feed-A-Child benefits 13 area schools, including Jacobs, reaching an average of 727 students. The United Way has provided the following list of the average weekly need for meals at the participating schools:

• Bigelow Hill  – 116
• Blanchard Valley School –  20
• Chamberlin Hill – 62
• Cory Rawson – County – 18
• Findlay Learning Center – 26
• Jacobs – 134
• Jefferson –  59
• Lincoln – 107
• Northview – 63
• Van Buren – County – 27
• Washington Preschool -65
• Whittier – 52
• Wilson Vance – 38

If you would like to make a contribution to the Feed-A-Child program, you can go to this link. Specify in the comments section that you would like the donation to go to the Feed-a-Child program. If there is a specific school from the list that you would like to designate your donation, you can also mention that in the comment section.
The United Way also funds the Leader in Me program at Jacobs. You can read more about the impact of the Leader in Me by reading this Courier article from March 2017.