SNACKPACK PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP

Coming together to feed Sunshine School students.

In our Northwest Arkansas community, 26,000 children suffer from food insecurity. A few years ago, our social worker and teachers saw that need hit close to home with some of our Sunshine School students. To help with hunger on the weekends, we have been lucky to partner with Samaritan Community Center as a SnackPack distribution site.

The SnackPack program, coordinated by Bryan Armlovich, partners with 165 schools in four counties throughout NWA during the regular school year. They distribute around 6,000 SnackPacks weekly to provide some weekend food for children in our community. I spoke with Bryan about how they, like most nonprofits, have had to shift their services to deal with COVID challenges. He shared that they now distribute their SnackPacks from hubs located at the two Bentonville high schools and via delivery routes to partners further away. They used to depend on larger groups of volunteers to sort and pack all the food donations, but now rely on more packing sessions with small groups to keep everyone safe.

Their work has helped several of our Sunshine School families have snacks like fruit cups, pudding, crackers, macaroni and cheese, and cereal over the weekend so their children don’t go hungry. You can learn more about their program at www.samcc.org.

You can sign up to volunteer to pack the SnackPacks here: www.signupgenius.com/go/9040b4fa4a82ba3f94-volunteer

Follow them on Facebook: @samaritancommunitycenter

Follow them on Instagram: @samaritancommunitycenter