Healthy school snacks are one of the most frequent requests we receive from the Bellevue School District.
Some days, Stevenson Elementary School’s Family Connections Center is overwhelmed with requests for snacks and the cupboards are bare. In one month, they received 26 requests for snacks from 19 teachers. Kids who don’t eat breakfast have a hard time focusing during the first half of the day, watching the clock and waiting for lunch.
“I get a lot of kids from the nurse’s office,” one staff member told us. “Kids will complain that they have an upset stomach and they’ll go to the nurse’s office. She’ll find out that they didn’t eat breakfast and she’ll send them to me to get snacks. There’s been an increase in that this year. When you’re hungry and your stomach hurts, it’s hard to focus in class.”
What do school snacks mean for kids?
Healthy school snacks like dried fruit, crackers or applesauce provide kids with sustenance to hold them over until the lunch bell rings. Through Bellevue LifeSpring, school snack packs assembled by community partners are already making an impact in Bellevue schools.
“These snacks have been very needed at Stevenson Elementary,” a teacher shared. “I give out at least five bags daily. I give them to a pair of siblings that go home to an empty house until 8:00 at night. These snack packs have become an integral part of keeping our students from getting hungry during and after school.”
Create Snack Packs for a Great Team-Building Event!
This is a great community service project for big groups, especially kids. We’ve received school snack packs from groups like the Bellevue Kiwanis Club, employees at the Westin Bellevue and the West Bellevue Chapter of the National League of Young Men. Students at Jing Mei Elementary even made it part of their Kindness Counts Challenge! Each group included healthy snacks as well as a personal note with words of encouragement for the snack recipient.
“The students…love the note, they are surprised and smiling after reading it,” a Family Connections Center staff member said. “They ask who wrote the note and why. I say that the nice volunteer that prepared the food bag wanted to wish him/her a good day or write kind words and good wishes. Including a note is a great idea because the students feel appreciated.”
Building snack packs is a fun and interactive way to raise awareness about the need in our community and help stop grumbling tummies in Bellevue classrooms. You can even host a drive to collect snack items. Here are some suggestions for items to include in your school snack packs:
- Dried fruit
- Fruit leather
- Applesauce
- Crackers
- Veggie chips
- Juice boxes
- Goldfish
- No nuts please!
- Notes (or drawings) of encouragement!
Over 3,700+ students are living in poverty and at risk of hunger in Bellevue schools. That’s one in five children. You can help end hunger in your community. To learn more about Bellevue LifeSpring’s food programs or to arrange your own snack drive, contact us.
