EDITOR’S NOTE: The email address in this story has been corrected.
STOW: It all started on a Friday when a new student at Echo Hills Elementary School approached his teacher to ask for his weekend bag of food.
“What bag of food?” the teacher asked.
The child’s family had just moved to town from Akron, where for years nonprofit programs have provided children who have access to government breakfast and lunch programs on school days with a few personal groceries to get them through the weekend.
The school’s counselor turned to the emergency food pantry at the United Methodist Church in Stow for temporary help, but two church members who have witnessed the need at the pantry growing in recent years took the request to heart.
Laura Root and Jan Mather began a campaign to copy the weekend food programs operated by other area districts, bolstered by research that shows the link between hunger and education performance.
“I know longtime Stow people are shocked that the need exists. They ask, ‘Who’s going to use these?’ ” Root said.
Stow, with a population of nearly 35,000 in northern Summit County, has a reputation as a solidly middle-class community.
But nearly one-in-four Stow students qualifies for the free-and-reduced lunch program, Root said, and that’s close to the national average.
Root and Mather are expecting IRS approval of their nonprofit status for Bulldog Bags Inc. any day. In the meantime, businesses, churches, civic organizations and the city have pledged support.
The program will launch in January for grades K-4 at the city’s six elementary schools, targeting 460 children who are eligible for subsidized lunches.
On the final Friday of each month, students will receive the equivalent of two breakfasts, two lunches and two entrees — at a cost of about $4 per bag to the organization.
That’s a week in which many families on assistance are beginning to run out of resources, Root said.
Mather said future support may allow the program to expand to more than one weekend a month, or perhaps include fifth- and sixth-graders.
“It’s been exciting, seeing the community respond,” Root said.
Root and Mather began their effort by grabbing a business chamber directory, sending out a survey letter and then hosting a meeting when survey results returned positive.
University of Akron law professor Gary Spring volunteered to handle the 501(c)3 application process. Once that’s in hand, Bulldog Bags Inc. will work with the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
The organization is currently seeking monetary donations for the program.
Because nearly 500 of each food item is needed, donations of nonperishable food will continue to be welcomed at the church’s food pantry but won’t work for the student program.
Donations can be sent to Bulldog Bags Inc., P.O. Box 1475, Stow, OH 44224. The organization also has a Facebook page.
While the school district will handle distribution of the bags, volunteers are needed to assemble the bags each month. Anyone interested may send an email to Bulldogbags44224@gmail.com.
Mayor Sara Drew said the city will participate in any way it can, including offering space at the city’s Safety Center for storage and assembly.
“People sometimes don’t recognize here in the city we have a tremendous number of children eligible [for subsidized lunches],” she said. “It’s pretty striking, the need for food security that we have in our community.”
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.