Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri

More than 1,790 children in Audrain County qualify for free and reduced meals at school, and one program that serves them needs help from the public, according to a spokesperson with The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri (formerly Central Missouri Food Bank).
For many of these children, school lunches are the most nutritious meals they receive, and access to the same kind of nutrition is not available on the weekends, food bank officials said.
To address this, The Food Bank’s Buddy Pack program provides healthy food for qualifying children to take home to eat during the weekend. The packs are filled with nutritious, shelf-stable foods such as peanut butter crackers, pop-top fruits and soups, fruit juice, granola bars, dried fruits and nuts, and a 12-ounce plastic jar of peanut butter.
In Audrain County, 464 children at Community R-6 Elementary, Early Childhood Center, Eugene Field, Hawthorne and McMillan Elementary schools receive food from The Food Bank’s Buddy Pack program each week. However, due to rising costs, the program may have to be severely cut back or eliminated.
The program faces a number of challenges:
• An increase in demand.
• A rise in fuel prices. It now costs more in long distance freight to bring in food.
• Food expenses have increased anywhere from 15 percent to 30 percent.
At the beginning of the school year, The Food Bank estimated that a Buddy Pack would cost $100 per student for both semesters. Within two months the cost had increased to $150. Officials now estimate the cost will be at least $180 per child before 2012 is over.
The Food Bank has launched an “Adopt A Buddy” initiative in hopes of getting Audrain County citizens to pay for the cost of a Buddy Pack for one child. The goal is to find 120 sponsors in the county as soon as possible.
To sponsor one child, it costs $180 or $15 a month for 12 months.
“In the five years that I have been here, and the 20 years that the exectuive director has been here, we’ve never had to scale back on the program, and we don’t want to now,” said John Wampler, regional coordinator for The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri. “We’re just asking the good folks of Audrain to adopt a buddy. Their donation would stay in Audrain, and the Commerce Bank has agreed to be the ambassador, to give people a place they can go to drop off a check or money for program.”
The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri distributes free food to 138 elementary schools through the Buddy Pack Program, and 135 hunger-relief agencies, such as food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and others. The network helps feed nearly 100,000 people per month in 32 counties in central and northeast Missouri. Audrain County receives 594,340 pounds of food that is distributed to the following:
• The Help Center (324,944 pounds)
• Second Missionary Baptist Church Pantry (117,301 pounds)
• St. Johns Catholic Pantry (103,596 pounds)
• Buddy Pack Schools (49,499 pounds, divided between five schools)
More than 55,000 school children in The Food Bank’s 32-county service area financially qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches. Since 2005, that number has grown by 25 percent – adding more than 10,000 students within five years. That means one out of every two students in central and northeast Missouri needed help. Missouri ranks 5th in the nation in child food insecurity.
“We believe at The Food Bank that if you can feed a child and they come to school, that child is going to focus and pay attention. He will stay in school and get an education, and hopefully break the cycle of poverty,” Wampler said. “We’re a lot closer than we think, and so is the solution. Our goal is to cover the cost of the program for the rest of school year.”
Wampler added: “I am very passionate about this program. Someone once said, a vision is something you see, but a cause possesses you. This is a cause that I believe in, and plan to pursue.”
 Those wishing to help a child in Audrain County can make a check payable to “Adopt a Buddy” and mail it to Commerce Bank, 2946 S. Clark St., Mexico, Mo. 65265, or visit: www.sharefoodbringhope.org/adoptabuddy and sign up to give $15 each month or $180 each year. For  more information, contact Wampler at The Food Bank, 1-800-764-3663.

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