Fairview Park Elementary Power Snack Delivery
posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2017
“This is an incredibly generous program that you have started,” says Fairview Elementary School Principal, Alex Olsen. “We are very fortunate here in Spencer to have organizations that are willing to share their resources, time and energy into helping our students succeed.”
Last week, Iowa Select Farms and the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation stopped by several schools in Spencer, Iowa, to deliver their Power Snack Program coupon booklets for local food insecure children in need. Each booklet contains two coupons – a blue $5 coupon good for sliced or shaved deli ham and a green $3 coupon for a loaf of whole wheat bread. Students will receive the coupons four times per year and will be able to start using them immediately at local grocery stores.
Food insecurity is a huge problem among children, who often don’t realize the issues at hand. That’s why the Power Snack Program encourages students to use their super hero powers to build their very own snacks. A ham sandwich Power Snack, that is.
“We made the coupons and envelopes all brightly colored and super hero themed,” explained Allyson Ladd of Iowa Select Farms. “The bright colors are used to lessen the chance of losing these coupons in the bottom of a backpack. The program carries this unique branding because we see each student as a super hero and want to provide them with another ‘power.’”
Teachers at Fairview Park are also super heroes – they are just a little older and taller than their super hero students. Olsen says he, along with the other teachers at school, look at each child as a whole. They want to make sure all of the student’s facets of well-being are being taken care of to the best of their abilities.
“A lot of teachers put their heart and soul into these kids,” Olsen says. “They go above and beyond to take care of the things in our control with these students. We want to make sure we are meeting the needs of the whole child.”
It’s an unfortunate reality for some students to have to deal with their basic needs not being met. Students who come to school hungry have a harder time focusing. According to Feeding America, children who are hungry during school suffer from developmental impairments when it comes to language and motor skills. This often results in the student repeating a grade.
The Power Snack Program supports 37 super heroes at Fairview Elementary – a contribution valued at $1,184. That’s enough ham and bread to make a total of 1,776 nutritious Power Snacks. Olsen is especially excited about Power Snack coupons because of the holidays being right around the corner.
“This will go a long way with students, especially helping put a little more food on the table during the holiday season when they aren’t in school and might not know where their next meal is going to come from,” Olsen explained. “We are extremely humbled and happy to have this generous gift.”
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