Arkansas Rice Depot continues fight against child hunger

September 28 - October 4, 2015

By Jay Edwards

It’s startling that one in four kids in Arkansas are not getting enough food; and in parts of the Delta it’s even worse at one in three.

At Arkansas Rice Depot, the organization dedicated to fighting hunger in our state, numbers like these are always at the forefront of their mission, which is “improving the lives of hungry Arkansans.”

“We decided to be innovators again,” says Director of Development Brandi Johnston, “like 21 years ago when we launched the ‘Food for Kids’ program, a model that has been replicated in nearly every state in the country and has even gone international. Now we wanted to do more to really address the growing need for hungry kids.”

With the new program, Johnston says the goal is to go into those communities where there are little or no resources, where needs are greatest. “We are coming in to address the child hunger aspect of those communities,” she said.

“KATV has wanted to do a project with us and when we told them about the pilot program they said they wanted to do a whole event around it. So we came up with the ‘Packathon’ idea, where we would package 30,000 meals for the hungry kids in Arkansas. Then we said, let’s raise the funds to package these meals through a telethon. We told the story all week long, every evening on KATV.”

The 14-hour telethon was held on Sept. 17 and over $25,000 was raised. The Arkansas Minority Health Commission sponsored the event and brought in volunteers for the phones. Arkansas Rice Depot board members and other volunteers also pitched in.  

During the Packathon, kits containing two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and two snacks were assembled. “The meals are very nutritious,” Johnston said, “having been put together after consultation from an advisory panel of health officials.”

As mentioned, these are the children who have the greatest need; children who are not near a food pantry and whose home life is less than ideal. The backpack-kit may well be their only means of getting food.

“Typically they are getting a breakfast and lunch during the week, at school,” Johnston said. “The weekends are a different story.”

To get a better sense of the need, read the following letter, sent to Arkansas Rice Depot by an elementary schoolteacher in Arkansas.

Kelli’s Story

Kelli should just get to be a kid.

Friday morning I learned Kelli was invited to a sleep over at her new friend Leslie’s house. She was so excited and could hardly contain her joy. It was good to see her smile for a change.

But, she walked into my office after lunch and looked like she’d been crying. After some coaxing, she told me how much she wanted to spend the night at Leslie’s house, but was going to have to tell her she wasn’t’ going to be able to.

As I tried to console Kelli, my heart broke. She felt too embarrassed to take her Food For Kids backpack with her to Leslie’s house. She didn’t want Leslie to know her mom couldn’t afford to feed her and her little sister through the weekend.

But, more than that Kelli was worried because her little sister would be counting on the food from her backpack for dinner Friday night, and breakfast Saturday morning. Kelli, my sweet 2nd grader, felt responsible to get the food home. That weighed on her little heart more than the desire to have a fun night with her new friend.

I interact every day with hungry children here at school, but this was just hard to listen to. I assured Kelli I would find a solution.

Fortunately Kelli’s cousin that lived up the street agreed to take the food from Kelli’s backpack home so Kelli’s little sister would have dinner, and Kelli would be able to be a kid – without carrying an adult burden, and not feeling guilty.

Many of our students truly depend on the Food For Kids program. Poverty makes everyday living a struggle. Hungry children face emotional and social challenges, they are chronically stressed, are unable to focus on their studies and face health issues.

Worrying about whether your sibling has enough to eat should not be a child’s responsibility.

Thank you for all you do and please share my letter and thank every donor who gives to make Food For Kids possible.

Mrs. S. (Kelli’s teacher)

It is stories like Kelli’s that inspire the staff and volunteers at Arkansas Rice Depot.

“Our great volunteers came out in force,” Johnston said. “They filled the plastic bags with food, they put them in cases and we ship them to the schools, who receive a month’s supply. Once there, the teachers just take out a plastic bag and drop it in the child’s backpack for the weekend. They get two milks, fruit cups, granola bars, cheerios, beef stew, ravioli, and raisins.”

“We are starting with nine pilot schools in the Delta and by the end of the year we will have 25. We anticipate implementing this program in over a hundred schools in Arkansas, in 64 of the 75 counties.”

All of this is done at no cost to the schools, which means Arkansas Rice Depot relies heavily on private donations. You can contribute by going to www.ricedepot.org.   

Frank’s story

When we were little, my brothers and me did some pretty risky things to get food – or get money to buy food.

We ‘borrowed’ the 25-cent coke bottles and turned them in, to get money.

We knew it was wrong, but we had no food even with mom working two jobs and Grandma helping raise us. Feeding seven kids was hard on both them.

I remember when I was seven we would dumpster dive behind the grocery store. The store would throw out all of their food that was about to go bad. We were happy to take it. But the best things they would throw in the dumpster were the cinnamon roll type biscuits - the ones with the icing. We loved those!

We had to dig through dumpsters at night so no one would see us. It’s hard when you’re a little kid because we knew we would get teased if anyone found out that we were so poor we didn’t even have enough food to eat.

It was raining the day I was dropped off at the Children’s Home. I will never forget seeing the taillights of the car pulling away. But, my life was better for it. Mom made a hard choice. She and my Grandma regularly did without so we would have more. They loved us and we knew that.

Today, I no longer have to worry about where my next meal is coming from. But there are thousands of kids in Arkansas that are exactly like I was. They are doing the same things that I used to do in order to have food. They are crawling around in dumpsters, looking for those iced cinnamon biscuits.

Now I’m blessed to work at Rice Depot managing the warehouse. But,

I can tell you from first hand experience, we really need your help – we need money to stock the shelves! The summer donations were way down and it hurts me to think about kids going without food.

I remember how difficult that was. Can you help us out this month?

Frank Harrison

Photos by Kay Bona