St. Cloud school district offers free food to families

Long holiday weekends can be a tough time for families facing food insecurity, without schools providing breakfast and lunch to kids.

In central Minnesota, the St. Cloud Area School District 742 and local organizations are addressing hunger concerns by providing free food boxes to all families in the district who may need them, especially over holiday breaks.

St. Cloud Superintendent Laurie Putnam said the Feeding 742 Kids Initiative was a response to growing food insecurity faced by St. Cloud-area families. About 70 percent of the district’s students are living with food insecurity, meaning they can't afford or don't have access to enough nutritious food.

“Almost three-quarters of our students are going home not sure what dinner is going to be, (or) what happens on weekends,” Putnam said. “Breaks are particularly anxiety-producing for students when they're living with food insecurity."

Many families also have faced delays or the loss of access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, she said. 

Most SNAP benefits have been restored since the federal government shutdown ended. But some people no longer qualify for benefits, including many immigrants and refugees, or will need to meet new work requirements.

Worrying about food can be disruptive to the learning environment at school, causing kids to act up or struggle to concentrate. Teachers can often tell when students are stressed, said Chris Erickson, president of the St. Cloud Education Association.

“You know something’s up, and you just don’t always know what it is,” he said.
”But when you dig a little deeper in some of those conversations, you know that those barriers are significant to some of our families.”

School district officials brainstormed ways to help. Putnam reached out to St. Cloud’s Local Education and Activities Foundation, Catholic Charities and other community organizations. 

Community members have donated money to help build food pantries in every one of the district’s schools. And for the past few weeks, school staff and volunteers have offered pre-packaged food boxes of milk, bread and produce at drive-up distribution sites at two elementary schools. 

“We're able to provide just a few items to them once a week,” Erickson said. “And they're so grateful, those families.”

All families who live in the St. Cloud district can pick up food boxes Tuesdays at Talahi Community School and Thursdays at Madison Elementary School. They’re also available at parent-teacher conferences. 

Some local churches and banks have gotten involved in the program by providing donations or volunteers, Erickson said. 

As of Nov. 21, the school district had distributed 232 boxes of food over two weeks since the program began. The food boxes are available to all families in the district, with no income limits.

“It is open to anybody. We don’t ask,” Putnam said. “If people show up, we trust that they need support.”

Other school districts offer food pantries and take-home meals, but Putnam said she doesn’t know of others providing food on such a large scale, with no restrictions.

“What I think is special about St. Cloud is that the way people are willing to come together, to pool resources, to pool effort, to really make a difference for our kids is uncommon,” she said.

The food distribution is scheduled to continue through the winter break. Erickson said the organizers will discuss how to keep the community involvement going.

“Our goal is to create this network, that it could be self-sustaining in some way … and that we have these partners that will step up if we come into a crisis again down the road,” he said.