The Menominee Indian School District, Keshena, WI

"Our school district suffers from a high rate of poverty. As a result, children come to school having not eaten over the weekend. Our teachers have documented that this lack of food causes fatigue, absenteeism, and poor health, and is impacting the children's ability to learn." -Heather Conway, Collaboration For Kids, Menominee Indian School District

Teachers saw a big difference and came to Running Strong to help more kids in their school. Together, we worked out a plan to expand "Smart Sacks" from pre-K through the 3rd grade, feeding 300 kids each week! That's 9,000 total Smart Snacks for this upcoming school year!

Running Strong will send healthy foods like milk, sunflower seeds, chicken noodle soup, beef stew, fruit and grain bars, oatmeal and raisins for each week. School volunteers will pack and distribute the sacks at the end of each week. But now we need your help!

By buying in bulk, $35 will provide each child a “Smart Sack” for the entire school year! Times are tough and we need your support to keep this important program going. Can you help us?

The school is located in Ziebach County, which has one of the highest child poverty rates in the United States.

At the Takini School, 100% of the children qualify for the Federal Free Lunch Program.

5 years ago, teachers at the Takini School contacted Running Strong. They had noticed that the children in their classes were going hungry over the weekends, with no free school lunches and breakfasts.

Running Strong jumped into action and created the BACKPACK FOOD PROGRAM to make sure that Cheyenne River children don't go hungry on the weekends. The school week has been shortened to 4 days now which means that this food is even more vital to the children and their families.

Each weekend, over 200 students, receive full backpacks of food.

By buying in bulk, each backpack full of food costs approximately $4. Times are tough and we need your support to keep this important program going.

Backpacks include items such as:
• fruit cups
• graham crackers
• canned vegetables
• assorted soups
• macaroni and cheese.