Students enrolled in the Communication, Consultation and Collaborative Partnership education class at Hastings College are launching a Food 4 Thought non-profit program to help feed children in the Hastings community. The program is designed to feed elementary-aged children over the weekends, who qualify for the Hastings Public Schools free lunch program.

Food 4 Thought is similar to the Lincoln Backpack Program, a program that serves children in the Lincoln, Neb., elementary schools.

The new program will be piloted at Longfellow Elementary School next spring, with future plans to expand the program to other elementary schools in Hastings.

 College students are in the process of collecting backpacks that will be filled with food and sent home with children on Friday afternoons. The food will feed the children over the weekend, and then the backpacks will be returned to the schools Monday morning to be refilled for the next weekend.

 Students are seeking support from campus and community organizations, local businesses, and through grant applications. Volunteers to pack and deliver backpacks and donations of non-perishable food items are needed.

Research shows that $150 will support one family for an entire school year and volunteers may pledge to support a particular number of families.

An informational luncheon will be held Wednesday, Nov. 28, at Hazelrigg Student Union.  Scott Young, director of the Lincoln Backpack Program, and Kathy Cafferty, principal at Longfellow Elementary School, will speak. 

  For more information about the program or the luncheon, contact Kelsea Jones or Meggan Smisek at kidsfood4thought@gmail.com, or Marge Buescher at Catholic Social Services, at (402) 463-2112.
                                                                 -30-