Food Bank to launch mobile food pantry

Southeast Food Bank this summer is running the mobile ABC School Pantry to get food to students who receive free and reduced-price meals.

This month and July, eight mobile food distributions will take place across Southeast Missouri. They will be in Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Hayti and Senath, said Missy Rice, agency relations and programs director.

On average, the ABC School Pantry can feed 150 families with 40 pounds of food a month.

Started inside schools, the program was created during the 2010-11 school year to supplement the needs of hungry children when other resources were not available. However, said children's program manager Amanda Winschel, the food bank found out "a lot of times we couldn't partner with people. We couldn't bring in the donations."

The food bank has a successful program called Truck to the Table Mobile Food Pantry and thought if it could run a program like that, it could serve more communities and inspire more involvement, Winschel said.

The result is the ABC School Pantry, which offers a mobile delivery once a month to provide better, healthier food options and an emergency pantry on school grounds all the time. Winschell said the emergency pantry is meant to provide a more readily accessible source of food to low-income students and their families.

"When children have adequate food, they are sick less and are able to perform better in the classroom, which results in better academic performance," Winschel said.

The Southeast Missouri Food Bank serves a 16-county area.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address: 600 State Highway H, Sikeston, Missouri