MEDIA ADVISORY
Food Bags Fight Weekend Hunger, Preparing Kids for Learning
 
WHAT:                 Denver Mile High Rotary has partnered with Food for Thought – Denver to fill weekend food bags for 375 Harrington Elementary School students during the school year, preparing the students to come to school Monday morning ready to learn. New this year, a select group of 4th graders is learning the value of service to others from role models by participating in packing food bags for their classmates.
 
WHO:                    Denver Mile High Rotary, Food for Thought, Colorado Access, and Harrington Elementary Students
 
WHERE:                Harrington Elementary School, 2401 E. 37th Avenue, Denver, CO 80205
 
WHEN:                  Friday, September 25 from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m.
 
HOW:                    Food For Thought, Denver Mile High Rotary, and Colorado Access have teamed up to help solve the weekend childhood hunger problem in Denver.  With Denver Mile High Rotary Club as a civic partner and Colorado Access as a corporate partner, Food For Thought has launched Harrington Elementary as a model school for future growth for the program.  Each organization is lending important components:  financial, volunteer, and organizational support.
 
WHY:                     96% of Harrington Elementary students qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch, and during the week, children in low-income families rely on federally-funded school breakfast and lunch programs as their main nutritional meals. On the weekends, substantive meals set the stage to help them learn; however, these children do not get enough to eat. Every Friday during the school year, volunteers fill PowerSacks of food for children to take home – enough nutritional food to feed a family of four. By providing a PowerSack to each child in the school each week, we hope to assure that no child goes hungry over the weekend, and is ready to learn Monday morning.
 
INTERVIEW / VIDEO OPPORTUNITIES:
                                Food bags being assembled next to the school cafeteria
                                4th graders participating with pride in the project
                                Students expressing their gratitude for the weekend food
                                School principal explaining the need for the program
                                Food for Thought volunteer talking about the importance of the program
                               
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