A hit to the family’s budget is just one of the many negative impacts of COVID-19. To help mitigate that deficiency, Sand Creek Zone staff have volunteered to help Care and Share Food Bank of Southern Colorado distribute food to District 49 families.
“Care and Share contacted us to ask if there was a need,” said Sadie Russell, family engagement community liaison for Remington Elementary School. “We already have a relationship with them since we help with their annual food drive in the fall.”
Lauren Stuart, Sand Creek Zone community liaison and Sand Creek High School teacher, sent out a survey to zone families to see if anyone was interested in receiving free food baskets from Care and Share. The response was a solid yes, as 160 families wanted to participate.
“We had about 40 families from each school,” Stuart said. Those schools are Sand Creek High School, Remington Elementary School, Evans Elementary School and Horizon Middle School.
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, Care and Share delivered 165 boxes of food to Remington Elementary School. Russell, Stuart and several other staff members prepped the area as they waited for families to drive through.
Each box contained a gallon of milk, individual yogurts, cheese, cottage cheese, apples, potatoes, carrots, onions and a frozen bag of soup. These boxes are part of the USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program to help with COVID relief.
“We’ve had different items each week,” Russell said. “Last week we had bags of dry goods.” With several dozen bags left over from the week before, families received both the box of fresh goods and the bag of dry goods this week.
As cars lined up to receive the boxes, staff asked each recipient a few simple questions for record keeping including: name, number of people in the household and if their current financial need was related to COVID.
The food distribution for D49 families will continue into November. “We’ll be happy to continue to do this,” Stuart said.
The Care and Share food distribution happens every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at Remington Elementary. Information is sent to families each week and posted to the schools’ communication pages.
For more information on the food distribution, you can also contact Russell, srussell@d49.org, or Stuart, lstuart@d49.org, with questions.
