Ensuring no child goes hungry

The little boy with a shock of blond hair was barely as tall as the counter at the front office of Smoketree Elementary School. He took a plastic shopping bag full of food from Patricia Fligg, the school's homeless liaison, and looked up at her with enormous, pale blue eyes.

“Go back to your classroom and wait for your mother, baby,” Fligg said.

This is just one of the faces of homelessness at Smoketree Elementary.

Poverty comes in many guises at the school, and it's not always easy to spot.

“These kids look just like all the other kids,” said Kristina Horton, community coordinator at H.A.V.E.N. Family Resource Center, a child advocacy agency.

Horton said what makes these kids different is on the inside. It's hunger.

Fligg and others in the Havasu schools knew that some kids were coming to school hungry.

“Teachers were keeping food in their desks to help tide them over,” Fligg said.

The schools have a procedure for identifying homeless and other extremely needy kids, and making sure they get the support and services they need.

“We keep an eye on their clothing. We keep an eye on their education,” she said.

One of the things the schools give these kids is two meals - breakfast and lunch - every school day.

“But we couldn't do anything for them on the weekend,” Fligg said.

That's why Food 4 Kidz Weekend Backpack program came into being, Horton said.

Kids in need pick up bags of food after school on Friday. Children with younger siblings who don't attend school get extra food to share. Sometimes they find something more in the bag, such as a new shirt, a book, school supplies or a toothbrush.

Typical food items include juice boxes, raisins, granola bars, fruit cups and single serving spaghetti.

“The food is all kid-friendly and stuff they can make themselves, stuff they can make in the microwave,” Horton said.

On this day 16 bags were lined up on the counter with enough food to help feed 35 children over the weekend. In all, the program feeds 80 kids at four Havasu schools -including Starline and Jamaica elementary schools and Daytona Middle School -. Horton hopes to add Nautilus and Havasupai elementary schools soon.

Smoketree Elementary has the largest number of kids being helped by the program. Fligg said that's because the school draws from downtown hotels and the Island, places where homeless families are more likely to stay.

Horton got the idea for the program after she heard about a similar program in Texas.

“Test scores went up when kids started getting food over the weekend,” Horton said.

She saw how a weekend food program could help hungry children in Havasu and started Food 4 Kidz.

The program is administered by H.A.V.E.N., whose volunteers collect, sort, pack and deliver the food to the schools for distribution. H.A.V.E.N. acquires the food with help from UniSource Energy Services and the Safeway Foundation, as well as local service organizations, church groups and private donations. It also accepts direct donations of food and cash at its offices at 2818 Sweetwater Dr., Horton said.

“One-hundred percent of what we take in goes to the program. It's all volunteer help,” Horton said.

For more information, call H.A.V.E.N. at 505-3153.

You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.