School's Bags of Hope Program Helps Hungry Students

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - According to the National Association for the Education of Children and Youth, there are more than a million homeless children who face hunger while trying to learn. But a local school is stepping in to help by providing hope in a bag.

It can be hard to learn when you're hungry. It's a problem a school in Lawrenceville was having but became determined to solve. And the answer was in the bag.

The teachers and staff at Lawrenceville Elementary School are hard at work -- not just in the classroom but in a makeshift pantry in the basement of the school.

"We started with one cabinet because we only had 10 bags in the very beginning but as the need grew, our storage needed to grow as well," said a volunteer.

Students, who school officials considered homeless, were coming to school hungry.

"Some of our student population, more and more were moving into hotels. They were losing their homes. They were losing their jobs and they were living with other people. And they were just struggling to make ends meet," said teacher Stacey Head of Bags of Hope.

So, teachers and staff banded together to create Bags of Hope. Every Friday, bags are filled with non-perishable food items and given to students to take home over the weekend. It started with just 10 bags, now 55 families are being helped, including Brian Anderson's.

"Sometimes we go to the grocery store. We don't have to buy that much food because we have the bags," said student Brian Anderson.

"We're able to give the kids cereal and lots of canned items, fruit, snacks, milk, juice all the things that they need for the weekend to keep their tummies full," said a volunteer.

"It just makes our heart explode because it feels so good that we could be helping the children and knowing that they are making great strides in their academics because their bellies are full," said Head.

In addition to teachers, local church groups help stock the shelves and fill the bags. And for kids like Anderson, it's been a lesson in hope and the humanity -- a lesson he says he won't soon forget.

"Thank you for the very hard work you've done to give us these bags," said Anderson.

It's the kids' responsibility to bring the bags back every week to be re-filled. The teachers say the program will continue as long as there is food in the pantry. For more information visit the school's homepage.