Food for Kids Match Fighting Childhood Hunger in Oklahoma

Regional Food Bank is Finding Innovative Ways to Provide Food to Oklahoma Children

(OKLAHOMA CITY) – Sept. 2, 2020 – Donations to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Food for Kids Match help the organization as it finds innovative ways to provide food to children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through Sept. 30, all donations to the Regional Food Bank’s Food for Kids Programs are matched, dollar for dollar, up to $160,000 thanks to gifts from the Masonic Charity Foundation of Oklahoma, Dolese Bros., Mark and Beth Brewer, David and Lezlie Hudiburg and David Gorham.

“Dolese Bros. believes that no child should ever have to worry where their next meal will come from. We are proud to partner with the Regional Food Bank for this opportunity to help provide meals to the next generation of Oklahomans,” said Kermit Frank, director of communications and community relations at Dolese Bros. “We believe in supporting the communities where our employees live and work and the Regional Food Bank’s Food for Kids Programs are crucial to making that happen.”

As the school year begins, the Regional Food Bank and its partners are finding innovative ways to continue providing meals in hundreds of school districts across central and western Oklahoma, some of which have opted to host school virtually. In order to safely serve school districts and ensure that children are getting the nutritious food they need, the Regional Food Bank is offering delivery of Backpack Program components and boxes of food for the School Pantry Program.

Innovative partnerships with school districts like Oklahoma City Public Schools will see food being delivered to Backpack Program students along bus routes. Backpack Program and School Pantry Program components for Yukon Public Schools will be delivered to the district’s high school gymnasium, where the district will distribute the food to families with children who participate in the programs.

“Collaborations like these are important in providing food to the growing number of Oklahoma children who are living with food insecurity,” said Deb Bunting, interim CEO of the Regional Food Bank. “The Regional Food Bank’s Food for Kids Match helps to ensure these types of partnerships can continue.”

The Backpack Program provides kid-friendly, nutritious food to elementary school children who have been identified by school staff as food insecure while the School Pantry Program provides chronically hungry middle and high school students with food to sustain them after school and over the weekends. The Kids Café Program and Summer Feeding Program are also part of the overall Food for Kids Programs at the Regional Food Bank.

Make a donation today by visiting foodforkids.us or by calling 405-600-3136.