Teamwork Feeds Needs of Hungry Students

The  and the Niles Township High School District 219 Education Foundation for Excellence are teaming up to help students who might otherwise go hungry get filling, healthy food.

The education foundation, which assists low-income students with costs their families cannot afford, approached the food pantry during the academic year about a collaboration in response to a need at the high schools.

The move came after counselors at Niles West, Niles North and Niles Central high schools asked for money to buy breakfast bars for students whose families did not have enough food to provide them with breakfast, said Jeff Burman, the foundation’s chairman.

Burman updated the District 219 school board at the May 9 meeting.

The breakfast bars, which are quick and easy, have no stigma attached to them since they are commonly eaten by other students, he said.

Under another program, the food pantry will provide backpacks of food every Friday to students who might not get healthy meals over the weekend. The teens will return the backpacks each Monday so they can be refilled. 

The program will help families whose children rely on the free and reduced-priced school lunch program on weekdays.

Trustee Mark Collins explained the program to his colleagues on the Niles Township village board at its May 9 meeting, and the township planned to put $5,000 toward the project.

But trustee Marilyn Glazer questioned whether the program goes far enough, saying the township should look for ways to make sure students get enough to eat over the summer.

Maggie Zimmer, another board trustee, questioned whether there are children in local elementary schools who also don’t get enough to eat on the weekends.

Collins said he doesn’t doubt that there are.

Over the winter holidays, some local elementary school principals notified the food pantry about families they knew were struggling, Collins said. The pantry made sure those families were helped, he added.

“They were definitely struggling, and they were very happy,” Collins said. “More and more people are using the food pantry, because people are talking about it, but there are still a lot of people who are so proud they won’t come to us.”

According to Patch stories,  each month from the pantry.