Community Food Bank Of Eastern Oklahoma Partners With Others To Provide Food To Kids, Families In Need

News On 6 is a proud partner of the Food for Kids program to help make sure Oklahoma children don't go hungry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need is greater than ever before.

The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s Food for Kids program is designed to help students during evenings and weekends when they're away from meal programs at school.

"It makes food really accessible for them. Kind of an easy-to-grab, easy-to-eat kinda thing,” Community Initiatives Manager Shiraya Proffitt said.

Some Green Country schools still have their food pantry and backpack programs running even though children have shifted to distance learning.

Before the pandemic, the Food for Kids backpack program provided about 15,000 meals a week to Tulsa County kids.

"We've seen that number drop because a lot of our sites have not been able to maintain the capacity to distribute those to students,” Proffitt said. “But, the sites that are staying in action, we've seen those numbers almost double as they try to serve even more families who are now reaching out and asking to access these resources."

The food bank also is partnering with Hunger Free Oklahoma for a new program called "Tulsa Kitchens Unite."

Volunteers are passing out frozen dinners as families drive through Tulsa Public Schools meal sites. The meals are made by local restaurants, helping to keep some employees paid. Hunger Free Oklahoma said it doubles the amount of meals TPS hands out, with the goal to fill the gap for families in need.

"If they have seven children, they get seven meals from TPS. We do 14 dinners to make sure the parents can have access or if the kids need dinner two days in a row, that too. It kind of empowers the family to decide how to distribute that,” Hunger Free Oklahoma Executive Director Chris Bernard said.

Another way the food bank is making sure kids and their parents are fed is by partnering with Reasor's, where shoppers can pick up a bag full of things like peanut butter and jelly and rice and beans. Shoppers can also choose to donate different amounts at the register.

You can donate to Food for Kids by going to FoodForKidsOklahoma.com. You can select any amount you wish to give. Or you can text “FFK” to 243-725 to make a donation. Standard text messaging rates apply.