LAYTON, Utah — Despite running low on donations, the Bountiful Food Pantry is working with the Davis School District to provide food for donations to children on the weekends so they don't miss a meal.
Pantry officials say 16,000 students in the district qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Inside Layton High School is the Connection Center which provides a variety of resources for students.
Lisa Glassey is the teen site coordinator for the school and manages their community pantry.
"Lots of canned food, lots of boxed food, cereal, basic stuff that could be shelf stable for a minute," she said of the food the pantry provides. "If I have a student that is needing some food to take home, we have reusable bags that they bring and they come and shop back here."
The pantry also provides what they call pantry packs which are considered to be a lifeline for students.
"There usually is oatmeal, there's macaroni and cheese, easy things to prepare," shared Glassey. "There's apple sauce, granola bars, various different types of bars that are just easy for them to grab and eat."
The packs, which were created in 2012, serve as a way to help students stay fed over the weekend.
"We started it here with 155 pantry packs a week at three schools, we're now at 3,500 a week at 80 schools," explained Lorna Koci, No Hunger Zone coordinator for the district.
A school district officials aid up to four percent, around 75,000 children, need the packs on a weekly basis. Since the start of the program, the pantry has distributed more than 500,000 pantry packs.
"Roughly 24% of the students in Davis School District are eligible to use the state free and reduced lunch program, so that's about 16,000 students who we know are at risk for food insecurity," said Loci.
The pantry says demand has increased year after year.
"Two years ago we distributed 95,000, last year it was 114,000 and this year we're predicting it to be quite a bit more," said pantry executive director Rebekah Anderson. "I think, average, we've increased about 30% every year."
Anderson says the pantry is currently running a little low on supplies and donations. She estimates they will only have enough pantry packs to feed children in the district through the end of February."
With 95 percent of the pantry packs coming from donors, Anderson and others are hoping the community will step up to help.
"We need to help them have the food they need during school, during the week and this helps them on the weekend," stressed Loci.
Those looking to donate to the Bountiful Food Pantry can CLICK HERE.
