Combating hunger among Utah’s school-aged children is not just a Monday through Friday effort; numerous organizations and school districts work to ensure students don’t go without food even when classes aren’t in session.
According to Feeding America, 484,090 Utahns are facing hunger — 161,000 of them children.
To offer a helping hand, business leaders and professionals within the Leadership South Valley program have come together to raise donations of food boxes for students in two school districts.
Leadership South Valley is a yearlong program — hosted by the South Valley Chamber of Commerce — that aims to provide business leaders with an understanding of what communities in Salt Lake County may be facing, and ways to engage with them, according to the organization’s website.
With that in mind, each year members of the Leadership South Valley cohort efforts a community service project that gives back to people in need.
The group this year wanted to support pantry packs for the Jordan and Canyons education foundations. The resource helps provide students who may be dealing with food insecurity something to eat during weekends and school breaks.
The idea for this year’s project came about after members of the program met with local students and learned about the challenges many students and their families are experiencing. The effort was conducted during the weekslong government shutdown, which led to a pause of federal funding for food aid, according to a media release issued by the chamber.
Ryan Gregerson, managing partner at RCG Law Group and chamber member, said it was enlightening to learn how the school districts assist in making sure students don’t starve.
“They have weekend (snack) packs because there’s a lot of kids that you know have a hard time getting meals,” he said. “I didn’t even realize this, but apparently it’s pretty common in both of those school districts. And so when we heard that and we were thinking about what we could do to try to have an impact, it just made sense for us to say, ‘Hey, let’s put this food drive together.’”
The group created an Amazon wish list of needed food items and shared it across social media, professional networks and workplaces. Local businesses and community members also rallied behind the cause.
Tracy Miller, director of development for the Jordan Education Foundation, said the donations will help stock the principal pantries, which are located in schools throughout the district. The items are intended to aid students who may be experiencing homelessness or other hardship, as determined by the principal.
In a district with more than 55,000 students, Miller said the need to keep the pantries stocked is vital as a lot of students often come to school hungry, which can make learning difficult.
“We were running low in our pantry, we put out a call to help, and this South Valley Chamber Leadership Group came through with the donation,” she told KSL.com.
Jayme Jensen, managing director of the South Valley Chamber and director of the Leadership South Valley program, said the group was able to raise enough donations to deliver 100 boxes of snack items to both school districts.
“This project shows how awareness can turn into meaningful action that directly benefits local families,” she said in a statement.
Gregerson said the food drive connected on a personal level for him as the son of a father who taught elementary school, and his mother was a lunch lady.
“It was particularly impactful for me, because of my background with a family of educators, to be able to try to contribute to these two school districts,” he told KSL.com.
Gregerson, who works as a divorce attorney, said he often sees how children can be affected when parents split, so participating in an effort that helps uplift the youth was also touching for him.
“I see how kids can be negatively impacted by certain situations, so, you know doing things and having a service project like this, where it’s trying to bring the necessities of life to kids that impact kids in a positive way, was something that really also just struck a chord for me,” he added.
Although donations were recently delivered to the school district, with the holidays approaching, the South Valley Chamber said it is extending the donation link through Dec. 5.
They invite those interested in donating to do so here*.
The chamber says it plans to distribute another round of donations to the two districts next month following its Women in Business Holiday Soiree to be held on Dec. 9.