BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Midway ISD’s Hunger Free program is gathering donations for local families in need — they pack bags of food to send home with students every weekend.
"We were serving, sending out, about 150 to 175 bags of food a week, and now we're up to about 350 bags a week," said Director of Support Services, Anne-Marie Zellers.
Midway ISD sends a form with every student at the beginning of the school year to determine interest in the program, which relies on donations from the community for funding.
"It costs on average about $8,000 each time we place an order for food, which will last about six weeks," Zellers said.
Zellers says they spent about $55,000 on food last year.
"I think as food has increased, as families' jobs situations have changed,"she said..
"We know that there's a need and our population has grown, so we have more students than before."
The bags are handed out every Friday.
First Woodway Baptist Church helps deliver the boxes to families in the community during the holidays.
"It's important for the church to be connected to the schools," said Missions and Community Outreach Pastor, Rene Maciel.
"It gives us a chance to not only care for them from the standpoint of just material needs, but also have a chance to be able to talk to them and share with them the gospel, as well."
The Greater Hewitt Chamber of Commerce puts on a spring fundraiser for the program every year.
"It just pulled at our heart strings, a lot of the committee members didn't realize that about 30 percent of the Midway students do benefit from this program,” said Executive Cirector for Greater Hewitt Chamber, Alissa Cady.
