Tuesday August 24 marked the first day of school in the Emery School District, and behind the scenes Emery Caring for Kids is getting ready to take care of the students across the district to make sure no one goes hungry on the weekends.
Lindsay Oman joined us to let everyone know how the program works, from building kits to gathering up donations.
“Emery Caring for Kids is such an amazing program that I love being a part of. It’s a program that offers weekend food kits to around 80 kids in Emery County that has breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and sometimes Monday if it’s a longer weekend.”
The program is driven strictly from donations from people locally, across Utah and even other states.
Out of respect for privacy the counselors at the schools will see a student that is in need and they compile a number of students that could benefit for each school. All Emery Caring for Kids receives is a number and they deliver that many kits to the school.
If you are able to donate food items Oman said to look for things that kids can fix themselves.
“Breakfast items we like to do cereal, breakfast bars and fruit cups. Lunch items we do the tuna kits they’re boxed and we’ve found them at all the local stores. Dinner we do mac and cheese, not the big boxes the individual, Chef Boyardee cups and Top Ramen. And then snacks, anything individually packaged.”
There are also several places that you can drop off items in the area. JN Auto, Magnuson Lumber, the Emery Aquatic Center, the USU Extension in Castle Dale and both Desertview Federal Credit Union locations have set up collection points for items.
If you need more information on Emery Caring for Kids a great resource is their Facebook page.
“We always list every week items that we’re low on that we’re really needing for that week. We always list items that are needed that are in the kits every single week. You can always make monetary donations, we have a Venmo at Emery Caring for Kids or you can even make donations at Eastern Utah Community Credit Union”, Oman stated.
If you would like to call Lindsey direct, her phone number is (435) 749-0416.