By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Anchor/Reporter
KNOXVILLE -- Summer break usually means fun in the sun, but for more than 50,000 East Tennessee kids, it means they're at risk of going hungry.
The statistics are from Second Harvest Food Bank in Knoxville.
Some children get free and reduced lunches at school, but when that ends several summer programs are filling in the gaps.
6 News visited Fair Garden Pre-school in East Knoxville recently to see an example called Food for Kids.
The food served at Fair Garden is provided as part of a federal program to feed the nation's hungry children.
"You can tell in the way that they eat in the cafeteria and how they always ask for more food or if they can have an extra snack at snack time, you can tell the kids that don't have it," says Lauren Allen, a teacher who's also the Food For Kids coordinator.
A hot lunch and dinner is offered during the school year and summer, but educators and community action groups realized there was another void to fill.
"I have one little boy in my class who is a part of the program who asks, almost every day, to have food taken home to his mom and his brother, so, it's difficult," Allen says.
"I definitely think that without the Food for Kids program, the kids would not have food to eat," Allen says.
"There are a number of children who not only have bare cupboards or any food at home, but quite often the guidance in the home is not good," explains Fair Gardent Principal Pug Fuller.
"There is the absence maybe of a parent or parents. There may be someone incarcerated. There may be a parent on drugs," Fuller adds.
So Knox County schools partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank to provide extra nutrition.
Sam Compton, with Second Harvest Youth Services, showed 6 News some of food they've collected. "We have the shelf stable chocolate milk. We have 100 percent juice boxes. There are these trail mix bars."
The healthy food is served as snacks in schools and community centers such as Boys and Girls Clubs.
When the weekend arrives, each student is sent home with a backpack full of food. For instance, cereal, oatmeal, a healthy juice box. Each student is sent home with eight items.
But it doesn't stop there. If the kids have siblings at home, they also get eight items for each sibling.
"The program is very expensive because we are...we have to use a certain type of food. All the food has to be shelf stable. It has to be healthy. It has to be single serving and it has to be easy to prepare for a child," Compton explains.
The public can help the Food for Kids program. It has a need for backpacks to fill with food to send home.
Organizers also order the food in bulk, but they need money to make the purchases.
"Child hunger is one of those problems that you don't necessarily see, but having spoken with guidance counselors, school administrators, teachers, we know the problem is there and we know how to solve it. We just need help doing that," Sam Compton says.
The Second Harvest Food for Kids program will operate at 20 sites in nine counties this summer. So far, there are nearly 500 children participating.
For more information about how you can help with Food for Kids, call Second Harvest at (865)-521-0000.
Second Harvest is just one of dozens of local agencies that meet the nutritional needs of children. The Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee also sponsors a summer food service program for children.
Some of those meals are served in Boys & Girls Clubs. Kids all the way up to age 18 get a hot lunch and healthy snacks. Most eat free, or for a reduced fee, based on their family's income.
"We make sure that they eat. First off, it's a socialization. Secondly, kids are hungry and third, it's the right thing to do. We do not want children to be hungry," says John Lee, the director of Boys & Girls Clubs of East Tennessee.
There are 67 sites in Knox County alone where kids can receive a hot, free meal during the summer months. For more information just call 865-546-3500 or click here for the Community Action Committee's Web site.
"The program is very expensive because we are...we have to use a certain type of food. All the food has to be shelf stable. It has to be healthy. It has to be single serving and it has to be easy to prepare for a child," Sam Compton explains.
The Second Harvest Food for Kids program will operate at 20 sites in nine counties this summer.
