Mill Creek Brings Weekend Food Support Closer to Home with School Food Pantries
“As a retired school principal, I know how young people operate, what they like, and what nutrition their bodies need every day,” said Tom Sweeney. As the Mill Creek Community Food (MCCFB) Bank Executive Director, Sweeney is focused on helping kids meet those needs during the times when food is harder for them to access, like weekends and school vacations.
School meals go a long way to help families make sure their children have enough to eat five days a week. But on Saturday and Sunday, many families don’t have enough food, even when they’re working multiple jobs to cover rising expenses like food, gas, and daily necessities.
That’s where Sweeney and Mill Creek Community Food Bank come in.
Food Lifeline partners with Mill Creek CFB through the Retail and Food Service Partnerships (RAFP) program, connecting the food bank with local retailers to receive unsold food each week. Combined with other food donations and government grants and food programs, Mill Creek CFB hosts three distributions, serving about 1200 people each week.
Mill Creek has developed a creative approach to addressing weekend hunger by stocking school pantries with fresh produce, protein-rich foods, and pantry staples. By transitioning from a traditional backpack program to school pantries, Mill Creek is able to support more families. Instead of children carrying their weekend meals home in heavy backpacks, families can go to their neighborhood school to shop for food for everyone. Picking up food at a familiar, safe location close to home makes the shopping process faster and easier.
The food bank currently supplies 13 food pantries at local schools in the Snohomish County School District. These school pantries run all 40 weekends of the school year, helping fill the weekly food gap when schools are closed.
With consistent access to food, students have the nutrients they need to learn. They can concentrate better when they’re not worried about their next meal.
“If you want the cycle of poverty to end, we have to feed children and educate them. The more education a person has, the more opportunities they’re going to have. It’s not guaranteed. But, if you’re a third grader and you’re supposed to be learning how to read, but you’re so darn hungry that you can’t focus. We can prevent that by giving them food. And have the school set up with a little pantry.”
-Tom Sweeney, Mill Creek Community Food (MCCFB) Bank Executive Director
School starts in a couple of weeks. Food Lifeline’s network of Western Washington food banks and meal programs continue to develop creative solutions to ensure every child has food they need to succeed this school year.