by Dennis Dalman
It all started in 2018 when some students in the St. Cloud school district came home to tell their parents they’d seen some kids at school eating left-over food from the garbage.
That’s when a few alarmed and concerned parents organized a volunteer program dubbed FACT – Feeding Area Children Together. It is a way to get food to children that they can eat on weekends and on nonschool days throughout the school year. It will continue this year too.
In fact, there are plans to extend the program to other area school districts, including Sartell. But that can only happen once the St. Cloud district is going strong; currently, there is a waiting list for the program’s services. FACT is now serving more than 200 students who attend schools in St. Cloud.
Zurya Anjum, a Sartell resident, is a member of the FACT board. She explained how the program works. On the last day of school each week, bags of food are discreetly placed in the backpacks of children eligible for FACT. Those children are identified through self-referrals or by teachers and/or social workers.
Each food bag, per weekend, contains two breakfasts, two lunches and two snacks. All the food items are single-serve, child-appealing and shelf-stable.
The need for the food supplements has grown “exponentially,” said Anjum, who is urging people to lend a hand or donate to the program. Currently, there are three needs:
One: Monetary donations ($5 can buy enough FACT food for a week for one child; $180 can provide enough for the entire school year).
Two: Storage places are also needed for packing the food packs and for storing them until distribution. Currently, that process takes place in the basements of the houses of board members and in local churches.
Three: People to help current board-member volunteers to seek individuals, organizations and businesses willing to contribute in one way or another.
“We have a long wait list and even though we want to feed each child, we do not have the resources to do so currently,” Anjum said. “Our policy is to not start a pack for a child until we have the financial resources to do it for that child for a whole school year.”
FACT also stocks pantries located within each school that is stocked by donations from the community and is available to all students.
FACT recipients also receive boxes of food for longer school breaks, such as holidays, and those boxes contain fresh donated produce, bread and pantry staples.
“If anyone can help us with this cause – with space that is desperately needed, with money or with their time, please contact us,” Anjum said. “Let’s take a stand that no child needs to go to bed hungry in our neighborhoods.”
To find out more, to donate or to volunteer, go to www.stcloudFACT.org. Or send donations to FACT, P.O. Box 7832, St. Cloud, MN 56302. The FACT number to call is 320-281-9572.
