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Food for Kids fundraiser helps feed East Tennessee students

Many students are able to take advantage of free and reduced food programs in their schools, but still need nourishment when they go home over the weekends.

In East Tennessee, statistics show that one in four children is at risk for hunger.

WBIR is joining forces with B97.5, Second Harvest and Kroger to help feed students and address this need.

Many students are able to take advantage of free and reduced food programs in their schools but still need nourishment when they go home over the weekends.

That's where the 'Food for Kids' program comes in. Second Harvest has 7 different feeding programs, this program fills backpacks with kid-friendly food. 

Those backpacks then go to elementary school students who can take them home over the weekend so they have a definite source of food outside of school.

"Non-perishable foods they can snack on," Elaine Streno, Executive Director for Second Harvest said. "They bring it back Monday morning. We are feeding almost 13,000 children in 15 schools in our service area. We are very proud of it and know it's making a difference in these kids lives."

On a trip to the grocery store, you can donate at the register to the fundraiser.

If you want to buy food, Second Harvest barrels are always around for non-perishable food items in Kroger stores. All East Tennessee Krogers are participating.

Good choices are yogurt bars, peanut butter crackers, applesauce cups, and raisins.

The fundraiser kicked off on Aug. 4 and goes until Aug. 24. Anything you can do will help these children succeed.

"We hear back from teachers that they come back Monday morning less agitated, ready to learn, which is really the secret to getting them out of poverty in the first place," Streno said. "So we try to give them as much food as possible; if they have siblings more food goes in the backpacks, so when they come back they are ready to learn and not anxious of not being fed."

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